Keeper of the Dying Will
by NenePasciele
Summary: AUish: Sawada Katsu is offered up as the Vongola Decimo while his younger twin Tsuna is passed up for the position. Tsuna doesn't mind however for he has more important things to worry about, such as concealing his identity as the infamous phantom thief, Kaitou Cache... full sum inside R
1. Prologue: My Double Life

**Chiwassu~~~~  
****Again… here's another story hehehe  
****I just can't get over this starting a new story thing  
****It's just so exciting!  
****But I'll post this up first and then finish up another story before continuing  
****I just couldn't stand writing down ideas and not posting them haha**

**I even drew pictures today haha  
****http:*/*dark-*hazumi.*deviantart.*com*/#/*d5lm*wy0  
****http:*/*dark-*hazumi.*deviantart.*com*/art/*Katekyo-*Hitman-Reborn-*Kaitou-*Tsuna-*338684792**

**just remove the asterisks (*)**

**So this story is inspired by all the AU Sawada Twin stories as well as the thiefTsuna stories that I've read/favorited. Though I may accidentally use ideas from said stories, they're completely unintentional and I'll try and vary differently from the stories as much as possible. I'll also try and not go canon as much as possible too but will need to in order to fill plot holes and stuff. Also, I also borrowed the idea of the phantom thief from DNAngel but just the basic idea. **

**I'll make up the rest haha  
****Hope you enjoy!  
****Saa, we start!**

**Disclaimer: I don't own KHR and I already explained everything else hahaha**

Summary:

The Sawada Twins are known to be polar opposites of each other. Sawada 'Tsuna' Tsunayoshi is poor in school and athletics and is bullied because of these factors whereas his older twin brother, Sawada 'Katsu' Katsuro, is athletic, has average grades and is liked by many people. It's because of these qualities that he is considered to be the one who'll inherit the Vongola Crown as Vongola Decimo. Tsuna isn't bothered by this however since he's got more important things to deal with than the mafia or its inheritance issues.

In truth, he is the phantom thief known as Kaitou Cache (cache (kah-sh) = hidden/cover/mask in French) and at night, he goes around stealing jewels and art pieces as he outwits the police and evidently makes the public think of him as a figment of the imagination because camera crews and photographers are never able to get a clear image of the thief; only the shadow or figure can be seen. But what they all don't know is the very reason why he started to steal in the first place.

* * *

Prologue: My Double Life

The big spotlights, the sirens, the crowd of policemen lined up around the prize... It was all just a thrill to him as he awaited his chance to strike. He looked at his wristwatch which indicated the time, 8:45, but the same wristwatch also doubled as a communicator. "Oi, are your preparations almost done?" The boy asked as he watched the policemen move from the vent he was in.

"A-Almost, but the museum security is tighter than you'd think." The voice said from the watch.

"Well, the 'others' are almost coming so we have to get in and out as fast as possible." He whispered.

"I'm sorry, Tsuna-kun but we're going as fast as we can. Wait, I got it!" the voice said as the lights all went out immediately after.

"You're the best, gotta go." The boy, Sawada Tsunayoshi, said quickly as he pushed open the vent door and snuck down the wall quietly and looked towards the large group of policemen. From his pocket, he took out a grenade that only made a loud noise when it exploded and pulled the trigger before tossing it down a hall where it exploded.

"Men, he's infiltrated! Keep your guard up and split up down the halls!" the inspector Nakajima Eisuke, who was in charge of the guarding of the priceless crystal vase that sat in the middle of the room, exclaimed. The men all nodded and did as they were told but even with the decline in forces, there were still many present. Tsuna guessed about 25. _'This is going to be tougher than I thought.'_ Tsuna smirked and pulled the hood of his cloak over his head. He immediately decided that this was a chance to do something that he never usually does.

He took a deep breath in before diving straight into the crowd of policemen. He zipped in between them swiftly, trying his best not to touch any of them but it didn't stop them from noticing his movements. "He's running towards the vase!" One of the men exclaimed as they group then shifted and shuffled, trying to find the thief but found it difficult in the dark.

"Someone catch him, he's running around our legs!" On top of the darkness, their shuffling made it harder for them to try and catch him as he brushed past their legs. They all just ended up hitting and bumping into one another. Tsuna wasn't bothered by the darkness for underneath the mask that helped to hide his face, aka his identity, was a pair of contact lenses that allowed him to see clearly through the mask and through the darkness.

After he was close enough, he leaped through the air horizontally and hooked the vase. He evaded the whipping hands that tried to grab hold of him and used their shoulders as a means to jump over the crowd of men. He then landed behind them and ran out towards the main entrance hall. "He got the vase, after him!" Nakajima exclaimed and led the pack.

"Phew, that went better than I thought." Tsuna breathed as he looked at the vase in his hands and tried to examine it, but his examining time was cut short as people started to come in front of him as well as behind, easily surrounding the boy. "I forgot that they split up into the halls..." Tsuna sighed.

"We got you now!" the man from behind him exclaimed as he sprinted towards the thief. Tsuna didn't panic however as he ducked into one of the side rooms that was coming up on his left and disappeared through the window. The group of policemen followed him, crowded the window space and searched around but couldn't find him anywhere as the boy disappeared without a trace.

"We're on the third floor, where could he have gone?" Nakajima shook with anger.

"Suicide?" one of the others suggested.

"Are you stupid? The brat wouldn't do that! If Kaitou Cache was suicidal, then he would've thrown himself off the roof a long time ago, not here stealing artwork. Plus, he's nowhere in sight!"

"Inspector look!" Another man exclaimed from the back.

"What is it?" They all looked straight and found the crystal vase hanging in front of them on a branch with a familiar tag taped to it.

"_Good Evening Inspector, I'll give this back... a bit too tacky for my taste ;P ciao for now!_" The card read. "He's messing with us! What does he go stealing for anyways?" He exclaimed, boiling in anger now. "He's just wasting time now, if he's just going to return the items later." This has happened many times in the past few months since Kaitou Cache had made his first appearance.

"At least we got it back." The others tried to reassure their boss.

"Yeah, so that means it's our victory bwahahaha." Nakajima laughed.

"But we have to get the vase first." Someone cut the victory short as they stared at the vase dangling dangerously.

"Gaaahh, get it, get it! It's priceless! Worth more than our salaries combined!" They all then scrambled to save the artwork.

Meanwhile, on the roof top, Tsuna sighed and leaned against the fence. He pulled off his hood before looking at his watch. It was about 9:15 now and he was just as annoyed as the inspector, down below, was. Just moments ago, he had found a note addressed to him and read it:

_Dearest Kaitou-kun,_

_I'm glad to know you are reading this letter, which would also mean that you are safe.  
__Anyways, I'd just like to thank you for going through the trouble of finding the artwork for us and uncovering its hidden secret, or there lack of.  
__But let's not worry about such trivial details. Let us focus on how the next time you get in our way, you won't be around long enough to see the next daybreak.  
__I don't enjoy threatening much~  
__But if it must be done, it must be done~  
__Just don't let it happen again :)_

_Wishing you safety till the next time we meet,  
__Gesso_

Tsuna just cringed at the mention of that name. He was contradicting himself as he wrote the letter; it was especially noticeable when you know the personality of said Gesso, but the brunette got the gist of the message. "Tsuna-kun, Tsuna-kun, are you alright?" a voice called worriedly from his wristwatch.

"Yeah, I'm fine but I told you not to call me by my name just in case we were being overheard."

"Ah, gomen... eto... Cache-kun." The voice said. Kaitou Cache was the alias that was given unto Tsuna's alternative self though he didn't really know exactly how this came to be. At his school, he'd heard that it was the reporters' doing as they justified it as not being able to get a good glimpse of the thief and thus named him accordingly, naming him the French word for 'Hidden' or 'Masked' – Cache, the phantom thief.

"So how was the mission?" the voice asked.

"It turned out to be a fake. I got a letter from Gesso, and they seem to have been watching from a distance."

"Are you alright? Did they do anything?" the voice sounded even more worried, if possible.

"Nothing that I'm aware of, so it's all fine for now. Well, I'll be seeing you tomorrow, I have to get home." Tsuna said, taking note of the time again.

"Alright, get home safe. We'll be waiting to hear from you later."

"Ha, ha, I'll remember this time." Tsuna joked and jumped off the roof of his heist location.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Tadaima!" Tsuna called as he walked through the entrance to his home. He had quickly changed out of his Kaitou Cache outfit and changed back into his school uniform. When he entered, he found his mother sitting in the living room and watching the news. It was a reporter who had been at the museum scene and was announcing the 'failure' of Cache's heist.

"Ah Tsu-kun look. Kaitou-kun was at the museum today." Nana said with an excited tone. "It must be exciting being him." She fantasized his kind of life.

"I'm sure it must be okaa-san." Tsuna sweatdropped but felt sort of relieved that his mother didn't see his alternative self as a bad person.

"Though it must only be a big game to him. Stealing all the time but giving back his prize later." She seemed puzzled about this fact.

"I'm sure there's a good reason, okaa-san." Of course he had a good reason to steal items. It wasn't like he enjoyed doing it... alright, that was a lie, since he enjoyed the thrill of the chase and outwitting the police every time, battling them with mind games. But he didn't like to steal, if there was any other way to get the items other than buying them, then he would do it but it was impossible. And his justification of his actions was just too complicated to explain to people who knew nothing of the secrets held by the items that he, as well as a certain Gesso, sought.

"So did anything happen while I was gone?" Tsuna smiled as his mom shut the tv off.

"Katchan got a new tutor!" she said in a bubbly manner.

"Katsu got a tutor? For what reason?" If anything, Tsuna wondered why he wasn't asked to get a tutor. Of course, he didn't actually need one but it was for the sake of his fake persona that he presented to society. To cover up for his other identity, he had to put up an act to lessen the chance of people connecting him to Cache; though it was highly unlikely that people would actually trace Cache to him at all. It was all just precautionary.

"There was a flyer this morning so I decided to give them a call. He came in right after you left."

"Ciaossu~" said another voice that Tsuna didn't seem to recognize. Tsuna turned towards the stairs and was met with a baby in a black suit and fedora.

"Ah, Reborn-kun, this is my other son that I had mentioned before." Nana introduced. "Tsu-kun, this is Reborn-kun."

"He must be the dame one." Tsuna felt a vein throb in his forehead but didn't comment on that.

"You're a tutor? Did they lift the age minimum?" The boy tried to live up to his dame name and bent down to meet the infant's eye level.

"Of course not, baka. He's not even a real baby." The brunette looked up the stairs and saw his older twin brother coming down. Sawada 'Katsu' Katsuro was Tsuna's older brother and 'was better' at many things than 'Tsuna' was. This included learning and sports.

"There goes Katchan with his jokes again." Nana laughed.

"Okaa-san, I told you to stop calling me that, it's embarrassing." Katsu said in a heartless tone, but Nana paid no mind to it and walked into the kitchen.

"You should speak respectfully towards your mother." Reborn, with a green hammer at hand, whacked the older twin in the head and caused him to fall to his knees and grip his head.

"Itai! That hurts!" Katsu said sourly, narrowing his eyes at the baby.

"You three should head off to bed now, it's getting late." Nana warned from the kitchen.

"I'll take care of them, mama." Reborn called and looked at the twins. "You heard her, get up stairs. And we have to talk to you afterwards." Reborn referenced to the younger twin. Tsuna didn't have a good feeling about this but nodded regardless. He followed his older brother up the stairs and got ready to sleep.

Reborn looked at the pair and watched them carefully. From first impressions alone, the baby hitman could easily tell which twin was better suited to be the Vongola Decimo but if he's learned anything from his experiences, it was not to judge a book by his cover and this was as good as any time to not judge a twin by what he expresses outwardly. He had been examining the younger twin the moment he had come in and the way he spoke with his mother was different from what his body language was showing. It had also contradicted what his brother and mother had said about him as the boy looked pretty worn out when he had arrived home, as if he had just done something strenuous.

Also, earlier that day when he had first arrived, he had asked mama where Tsuna had been, and she had told him that he normally leaves earlier than his older brother. She had also mentioned that there were a few times when he'd return home late. Tsuna had excused those days as having to stay at school late to work on something but Reborn had a feeling that something was up and he was going to find out what it was one way or another.

**So how was it?  
****What do you think? Worth writing or should I just give up on this?  
****Anything I need to fix? Tell me and I'll fix it XDDD  
****I know I was pretty vague about stuff**

**And I didn't give descriptions on how the twins looked  
****But that's what the pictures are for haha  
****So go check them out and pass on the feedback ^^  
****Thanks for stickin around  
****Owari desu~**


	2. Target 1: A Challenge For You

**Chiwassu~  
****And yes I promised that I wouldn't write until I finished another story  
****But I couldn't help it  
****So here's the next chapter  
****And don't worry about the vague details hehe  
****I'll explain them eventually**

So, I'll post the description of Tsuna and Katsu here... and just imagine Katsu much more badass than the image that I drew of him o/o hehe not a very good artist

Kaitou Cache:

He greatly resembles the Vongola Primo as shown by the black cloak with orange lining that he wears. Underneath, he wears a black suit and tall black, laced boots. He also wears black gloves with a gripped palm on either hand to avoid leaving any finger prints. To cover his identity, he normally puts his hood up to hide his gravity defying hair and wears a face mask which only covers his eyes though he is still able to see clearly through them due to the contacts that he wears. Sometimes, they flicker a light orange which is barely visible underneath the mask but sometimes noticed by observant people because of the dark conditions in which he works. (I'll explain the contacts later~)

Sawada Katsuro:

He's the older twin brother of Tsuna and is the same height as him (not including his hair lol ^^) He's considered smarter, more athletic (making him slightly more built) and popular which are most of the qualifications to being the Vongola Decimo. He has spiked golden brown hair, flopped more over towards the right side of his head, and pins some of his bangs on the right of his head as well. His eyes are dark brown and dark orange when in Dying Will Mode. His flames also glow a golden orange color.

He normally carries an 'I'm not interested in anything' expression which adds to his uncaring body language; though, he does care about things but only things that concern him. Anything else is none of his concern. He doesn't like to converse much with his twin for he finds it a waste of breath and is, unintentionally, the reason for why Tsuna was known as Dame-Tsuna throughout their childhood. Generally, he is a fairly cold person and speaks in a heartless fashion but for some reason, many females find this quality attracting.

**Well, I'm sure you get the picture now (~-.-)~  
****Hope that helped at least a little bit  
****Saa, we start**

**Disclaimer: If I owned KHR, I would be the happiest person in the world… but sadly, I don't much like many others on this site haha oh… sorry I brought it up…**

* * *

Target 1: A Challenge For You

It had been a full week since Reborn had first arrived in the Sawada house. That day, when Tsuna returned home from his heist, he had been brought to Katsu's room by Reborn. There, Reborn had explained that Katsu was chosen, by the Vongola Nono, to be the Vongola Decimo. He told Tsuna that they had specific expectations for the heir and had to go with his older brother and not him due to his lower capabilities and qualities.

Tsuna of course didn't mind. In fact, he was happy that his brother had the honor of becoming a big time boss, but more importantly, he wouldn't be the one to be followed around or harassed by the infamous Strongest Hitman. It would restrict him of his duties as a Phantom Thief and his cover would eventually be blown by said hitman if he stayed too close and paid enough attention to him. He knew a lot about the infant and he even knew of the arcobaleno curse, meaning that the infant was only an infant in body and age, not in mind.

The younger twin had guessed that by letting him in on their secret, he was going to get involved in one way or another, especially with the fact that he was the twin brother of the upcoming Vongola Decimo. Many people would find out of his cover self and would think it as a weakness and target him, so the hitman or the Nono might have figured it would be best if he knew as well, instead of being kept in the dark.

Upon knowing all this information, Tsuna was only worried about the fact of what their mother might say when she finds out of their involvement in the future. The brunette suspected that Reborn wanted to keep it a secret from the woman as she didn't even know of the involvement of her own husband in the mafia. Tsuna also guessed that he his twin didn't know either, so he's never mentioned his discovery.

He also didn't mention the fact that he was already aware of the things happening in the mafia that instant. It was due to his information gathering friends whom had also worked under some scientists involved in the mafia. It didn't surprise him though, for they were really smart for their age and had been invited to Italy for a schooling program. It just surprised him that they decided to stay in contact and help him when he needs them. They even decided to stay in Namimori so that they could remain in close contact. It also helped that he doubled as Kaitou Cache and sometimes had to break into mafia bases to get what he needed.

This meant that everyone, both above and underground, was aware of his existence and were wary about their prized possessions for they never knew when Kaitou Cache would appear. There were times when he had sent notices but at others, didn't; however, the items were sometimes returned after a week's time at most. Of course, Tsuna was aware that neither he nor his partners were the ones to send those notices but he was evidently forced to make an appearance since the item mentioned would become his target one way or another.

But back to the conversation, neither Katsu nor Reborn were aware of his knowledge of the mafia, so he had to keep up appearances of obliviousness and reacted stupidly and cowardly to the idea of his older twin entering the mafia. With that, it would definitely keep Reborn off his trail, or so he hoped.

Over the course of the week, many crazy people had come and started visiting and even living in their house. First, they had met Gokudera who was a transfer student from Italy; arranged by Reborn no less. Then Tsuna watched as Yamamoto had approached his brother suddenly. They then appeared to be friends after that. Although, he threatened to commit suicide because of a stupid comment on Katsu's part; luckily his older brother was able to stop the worst from happening.

Those three had then become best friends, though for Gokudera, it was reluctant with Yamamoto. But with Katsu being Katsu, he didn't seem to care that the two wouldn't ever leave his side and would even go so far as to come by their house and pick him up to go to school.

Then there was that fight that Mochida had started because of the school idol, Sasagawa Kyoko. Katsu had come out as the victor and was eventually continually asked to join the boxing club by Kyoko's older brother, Ryohei. Though unfortunately for the extremist, his older twin constantly declined. That didn't mean that he gave up however. It seemed like Hibari, the school prefect had come into contact with his brother as well, for reasons he knows not.

Throughout the course of these events, Katsu had appeared to have been stripped of his clothes, ran around with an out of character personality and fought every situation with his dying will. Most likely, Tsuna guessed, due to the dying will bullet shot by a certain hitman.

Later on, Lambo had arrived and threatened to kill Reborn who only brushed off the poor kid. He was then invited to stay by Nana along with Ipin who had accidentally mistaken Katsu as her target. Tsuna was the one who had found out that she had an eyesight problem and gave the girl her first pair of glasses. In the middle of these events, Poison Scorpion Bianchi and Bucking Horse Dino had made their appearance too, as well as a girl named Haru, who had attacked Katsu because of his corrupting of the innocence of Reborn.

Tsuna had to laugh when he heard that from Reborn, but the only reason why the infant had told him was so that he would be wary of the girl since she didn't know of his twin brother and because Katsu never tells him anything for he never liked talking with Tsuna much or even at all. The older twin just ignored his presence whenever he could.

Tsuna was very much surprised at how connected the Vongola was to all these well-known mafiaso but wasn't entirely pleased with Yamamoto's involvement or with the contact they made with Kyoko, her brother and Haru for they were all innocent people to this world.

He didn't voice this objection however, from fear of Reborn questioning on why Tsuna was questioning this fact when he himself was just as innocent as them; or seemingly innocent on the outside. He knew immediately that Reborn was watching him closely, at school and at home, so he had to be careful of how he acted.

The final person to enter the scene was Le Petit Prince aka The Ranking Prince, Fuuta. Tsuna knew of his abilities and made sure to stay clear of the boy, in case he made a ranking of him. But he knew that it was pointless because the boy could ask or be asked any question wanted and would always get an answer, whether he knew of the person in question or not.

Still, Tsuna didn't seem to want to have any contact with the boy and only conversed with him when they'd meet accidentally. Most of the people just assumed that Tsuna was scared of the zero gravity that appeared when Fuuta was ranking, which was definitely not the case and was based entirely on the assumption of his pseudo character.

(A/N: I didn't want to bore you guys with the introduction arc so I summarized it and tried to compress it as much as I could haha. If I did write it, it would just be minor changes like adding Katsu in and stuff and changing Tsuna's thoughts on the situations... so that's my reasoning, hope you understand! And hope you won't be confused either for any things that I may think I explained but actually didn't)

"That must've been one crazy week for you Tsuna-kun." The red headed boy said to his friend as they walked back towards his own home. It was Saturday, so that meant that this was the day that the two boys could hang out together.

"Yeah, but it makes life more interesting." Tsuna grinned at the other.

"Isn't your life interesting enough?" The boy sweatdropped as he asked.

"Hmm... I guess," Tsuna grinned. "but I tried to avoid all contact with them unless spoken to. And when I have to speak with them, I tend to avoid the subjects having to do with news trends about crime and the mafia and change them into something else entirely."

"Haha, I remember you used to do that to us, even though we knew you were Kaitou Cache." Shoichi remembered.

"Well, it's not like I could just suddenly talk openly about something that I've been hiding from the rest of the world and my family. I guess it was just a habit of mine from before, and at least I managed to break it when I found out that you guys were staying." Tsuna scratched the back of his head.

"But now, there are more people in your house and they all know you on top of that. Isn't it harder to keep up your secret when you see all these people every single time of the day?" The other said worriedly.

"You worry too much, Shoichi; that's what the Dame act is for." Tsuna laughed at his friend. "They won't know about my other half and no one else will too, for that matter. So long as you, Spanner and I keep our mouths shut. As well as the one that got us all involved in the first place." the brunette sighed.

"Are you still angry with him, Tsuna-kun?" Shoichi asked.

"No, I was never really angry. It's just that, life would have been much easier if I hadn't been at the wrong place at the wrong time." The two then turned in towards an apartment building and walked through the doors.

"Well, I'm sure that he doesn't see it in that way. For all he knows, you were at the right place at the best possible time. And if it weren't for that incident, I wouldn't be here helping you right now and Spanner wouldn't have been able to come to his favorite country."

"I guess that is a good outcome, but this is still a pain to deal with, being a Phantom Thief is tough."

"And trying to break through security codes and mapping out escape routes is tough as well." Shoichi joked.

"Sorry, I know." Tsuna grinned sheepishly and the two walked into the elevator.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

~Flashback~

The three boys, Tsuna, Shoichi and Spanner, had first met each other about 3 months ago, around the time when Tsuna had nearly finished his basic training as a phantom thief; though Shoichi and Spanner were already acquainted in Italy before meeting Tsuna. At that time, they had taken on an apprenticeship with three scientists that worked together as a group; though they also had many others working under them. The two boys had been recommended for the position from their school, so they had no choice but to take it on.

"The functions are still on the rough side, and the process of compacting the molecules into the unit is unsuccessful." One of the men recorded as the experiment glowed on the table.

"Try changing the frequency in which you are converting the molecules. By doing so, you will be able to close them in in a wavelength like state, making it easier to store in the smaller space." Another mentioned, before working on his own station. The scientists had been working for some mafia famiglia at that time, which meant that the two boys indirectly worked for the mafia as well and were studying something about compressed weapons in boxes.

"I'm sure you two are keeping track of our progress." A voice said from behind the boys as they continued to observe and record the statements of the scientists and workers. They turned and faced their superior who was standing behind them.

"H-Hai, we have taken every detail that we possibly could." Shoichi said nervously, still not used to the fact that they were actually working with real geniuses.

"And what is your input?" He questioned as if testing them.

"W-well, the metals that we are using for the structure is slightly lacking in conduction with the weapon converted material. The durability of the box is important but the stability of the contents inside is just as important." Shoichi stated.

"So if we find a more suitable conductor, durable and strong enough to withstand any pressure put onto it and is able to survive the rough conditions of battle, then, we'll be able to have the ultimate result of weapon stability and durability." Spanner said lazily, as if it were a piece of cake.

"Though, we could maybe have a frame for the outside while having the conductor lining the inside. That way, the outer shell would be durable and tough while the inside will contain the weapon. If they are able to convert the weapons into wavelengths, then the conduction may allow for easy access and release." The two boys seemed to have started to drift off in their own world of the mechanics of the men's experiment.

"Alright, that's enough." The scientist cut their conversation short. "Although you're intake was mainly of the structure of the weapon, it was pretty much the answer I was looking for, good observations."

For one reason or another, the superior that they had just been talking with, also known as Verde, had been turned into an infant a long time ago. So they've never seen his full grown form, but he still had his ingenious brain. He was easily intrigued and evidently lost himself in his work, but always made sure that none of the things he created would come back to haunt him one day. He was also the type of person to always repay a debt for he hated owing anyone more than anything. So when the chance came to repay one, he took immediately, no matter the cost.

It was this hate of debt that had brought the two boys to Japan. They were called in on a favor from a 'friend' of their infant superior. His 'friend' had just come in one day and decided to call in this favor. Verde was visibly annoyed at the other but was at the same time, impressed that he managed to bypass all of his security measures so easily.

"So what is this favor that you need?" Verde crossed his arms and looked at the other straight in the eyes. Incidentally, this man was also under the same circumstances as the boys' superior and took on the image of a defenseless infant. But the way that he had flew through the security defenses had proven to them that, much like Verde, he wasn't a true infant either.

"One of my students needs help with an assignment which requires the help of ingenious computer scientists. I remember being told that you had recently taken interns and decided to come by and see if you really needed them here." The other smiled, though this smile didn't seem to be as friendly as it seemed.

"If it's just these two then fine, but only if they agree. Whether they agree or not is not up to me, but with my agreeing means that my favor is terminated." Verde said.

"Aww, are you getting rid of them so fast?" One of Verde's fellow scientists whined and hugged the two boys over their shoulders, resting in between them. "We only just got them two months ago."

"I-Innocenti-san." Shoichi sweatdropped. Spanner just remained expressionless.

"Whatever, we took them on because of that school and now, they're going to work somewhere else that may or may not be of use to their technical skills." The other man, Koenig commented.

"But it's not fair~" Innocenti continued to whine.

"Well, it's not our decision, it's theirs." Verde justified. "It would be a shame to lose them at this point in our works but regardless, my debt is paid, Fon."

"Understood." The blackhaired martial artist nodded and turned towards the two boys. "If you wouldn't mind, my student and I are in a bit of a bind and require your assistance." He explained to them again. "Of course, as Verde had said, it is entirely your decision. Whether you agree or not is fine with me, I will just seek the help of others."

Shoichi and Spanner exchanged glances, both unsure of what to say. "Well, why pick us if there are other people that could be of help?"

"Oh, don't get me wrong." He said to the pair. "Yes, there are others that I could've asked for help but there's a reason why I came here first." He said, his same smile still present. "If Verde is more than willing to take in two boys from a local school to observe his work, then they must be something else to obtain his trust as well as his interest." With that being said, how could Shoichi and Spanner refuse? They were being praised by a man that Verde had owed a favor to, which seemed to be saying a lot.

"So... um..." Shoichi hesitated, not knowing what to call the other infant.

"You may simply call me Fon, I'm sorry for not introducing myself earlier, Shoichi-kun." He said calmly. Shoichi didn't even bother to question how the infant knew his name.

"J-Ja, Fon-san, where would we be going?" Shoichi asked him.

"Japan." He said simply then signalled for them to follow as he turned to leave.

"Japan?!" Shoichi exclaimed and could feel his stomach churning.

"I always wanted to go there. And I could meet Shoichi's family." Spanner reasoned out.

"Oh, you are from Japan? May I ask where?" Fon said, interestedly.

"N-Namimori..." He gripped his stomach tighter, feeling a bad feeling coming on.

"What a coincidence, this way, it wouldn't be hard for you to seek accommodations." He said and walked out the door. "Get ready, we'll be leaving in two hours."

"T-Two hours? That's really short notice!" Shoichi then doubled over.

"We'll be ready." Spanner said, dragging him away. "You better call your mother Shoichi..."

The two boys then packed their things and were off on an airplane, heading for Japan. Shoichi couldn't help but wonder what kind of person the student was and what sort of assignment he had that needed computer experts. He never really asked the question, so he continually feared of what the assignment would consist of. Though, Fon was a nice man and didn't seem to bear any ill will, but he found it odd that the man had a monkey to accompany him everywhere...although, this was a step better than the alligator that Verde kept.

"Worried about the meeting?" Fon asked, as if reading his thoughts.

"H-How did you?" Shoichi wondered.

"You talk when you sleep." Was his response. "But my student may not be as bad as you two had initially thought but when you find out our occupation, you'll be incredibly surprised after you meet him." Shoichi didn't know what to say afterwards. He still couldn't imagine if the infant's explanation was supposed to make him feel better or warning him. He didn't really like surprises much unless he knew that they would mean no harm but this surprise is coming from someone who is connected to the mafia.

Soon, the plane had landed around noon and the boys prepared to get their luggage. "Well, we're here." Fon said to them before walking out of the plane. "My student is waiting in the airport, so we'll see him when we come out." The two boys just nodded before following. Shoichi was still in thought about what this boy would look like. They had found out that Fon was a martial artist during their trip, and when mentioning his student, they'd assumed that he was also a martial artist.

"W-What d-do you thi-nk he's like?" Shoichi mumbled nervously as Spanner just took out a wrench looking lollipop.

"Hmmm... I'm not that worried about it." He said, Shoichi sweatdropped at his lack of interest. After walking through the bridge that led to the terminal, they walked through a few doors leading to the main public area.

"Hello, Tsuna, I've brought home help." Fon greeted and jumped onto the boy's shoulder while the monkey, Lichi, had taken the boy's head. They then looked towards the redhead and blond.

"Ah, hello, I'm Sawada Tsunayoshi." Tsuna bowed upon making eye contact. "But you can call me Tsuna." Shoichi took note that the boy's smile was very warm and welcoming and was taken aback by the boy's petit stature. It was actually the complete opposite of what he was expecting.

"H-Hello, I'm Irie Shoichi."

"Spanner."

"Eh... is that your true name?" Tsuna smiled warily as if disbelieving the other.

"As far as you're concerned."

"Spanner." Shoichi face palmed.

"Well, I'm sure that you two would like to get settled before hearing anything, so we'll allow you to return home first." Fon told the two boys.

"A-actually, I've been really curious about this since we first boarded t-the plane s-so..." Shoichi stuttered slightly.

"So we wouldn't mind if you shared with us, right now, what it is we need to do so we can start with the preparations." Spanner finished for him for they had discussed this previously on the way over. Tsuna and Fon exchanged glances with each other before looking back towards them. Fon was still smiling and Tsuna tried to appear happy as well but the boys could see the nervousness and anxiety in his eyes. He seemed to have stopped talking after that.

"All the more better." Fon responded. "Are you two hungry? I can arrange for us to have a private booth in a restaurant I know; on me of course." The two just exchanged glances and then nodded and were then led out of the terminal.

They had taken a taxi towards the restaurant and on the way, they had tried to talk with the brunette to try and get to know him better, but it seemed like he had turned the whole conversation around and had them talk about themselves instead. Neither had noticed until they heard each other talking. They tried to bring up topics about the brunette but once again, the topics were avoid and changed into something completely different. They had to admit that they boy was good at avoiding things he didn't want to talk about, but they only praised him for his skill when they had realized that he was doing it.

Upon arriving at the restaurant, they had indeed secured a room where they were able to take without having people listening in on them. Once they had ordered, they had begun to speak.

"I just wanted to establish that everything said here today should remain a secret." Fon said sternly to the pair, whom nodded, urging for them to continue. "So, Tsuna's job will be taking place in two days' time. Your job will be to blueprint the mansion of the big name tycoon Takano Takahiro. We'll need you to map out the entrances, doorways, ventilation systems and security systems. Once you finish, Tsuna and I will study them the following day. Will you be able to do this in 24 hours?" Fon asked as they both nodded but were still not understanding for what reason they had to do this.

"So why do you want these blueprints?" Spanner said and took a bite out of his plate of food.

"A-Are you sure that we should tell them? I don't want to get them involved." Tsuna looked towards the infant with doubt.

"It will be safer for them if they know what's going on. Also, as soon as they agreed, they were already involved." Fon reasoned.

"I guess." Tsuna sighed and then looked at the boys apologetically.

"So, what do you do that requires these blueprints, Tsuna-kun?" Shoichi asked, for he couldn't take the suspense any more.

"Well..." The boy paused and took a deep breath in, before finally deciding to tell the other two about himself after all their previous efforts on the way to the place. "the truth is that I've been training for the past half year with Fon so that I can become a phantom thief. Specifically, I'm known as Kaitou Cache." The brunette said sheepishly. The two other boys just gapped at him, unsure of what to say to the other. At least they found out why Fon had wanted a private booth and why the infant had said that they would be surprised when they found out Tsuna's occupation after meeting him.

"Ph-Phan...tom?" Shoichi looked like he was going to pass out at any given moment.

"So you're a criminal?" Spanner said judgingly.

"Hey, you two indirectly work for the mafia, so you have no right to judge. Besides, there's a good reason behind this." Tsuna tried to reason. He then went into an extensive explanation explaining everything from the works of art and the secrets that they held within them, to what he had to go through to obtain these items. There was something special about these works of art and he had to get them for this specific reason, but he also explained of another party interested in these pieces for the same reason and explained the things that they've done to try and prevent the boy from succeeding.

(A/N: I'll do a complete explanation for this in the next chapter! So you'll just have to wait till then sorry)

"So you wanted our help because of this man's security system? And he went through all this trouble to get this system because of a note tipping him off about the heist?" Shoichi asked again.

"Yes." The two answered.

"Then why'd you send him the note in the first place?" Spanner wondered.

"That was the Gesso Famiglia's doing. Their leader's trying to do their best to hinder us from hindering them." The Chinese infant explained.

"But by tipping off the owner, they're putting themselves at risk as well." Shoichi pointed out.

"Well, knowing that man, he has a plan behind all this. He acts as if it's all just a game to him. That also means that this isn't the first time he's done this either, but after half a year, I'm pretty much used to it." Tsuna said, visibly annoyed. The boys then finished their lunch and then headed out towards the redhead's house.

"So Spanner will be staying with you?" The brunette asked.

"Yeah... when I called my mom, she was thrilled about finally meeting one of my friends." Shoichi said embarrassed. Tsuna just laughed. Shoichi continually looked at Tsuna from time to time, sparing glances in is way. After the conversation that they just had, he couldn't figure out how this weak looking, kind hearted sort of boy would be a conniving, deceitful phantom thief at night. But now he also understood why Tsuna had been so good at dodging their questions earlier and why had done that in the first place.

This mission had gone flawlessly after they had finished their blueprints. Shoichi didn't feel right helping out in a heist but he knew that it was for the greater good. During the mission, they had hacked into the security system, disabled it from the mansion, rewired the image to their own computer and were able to watch the boy perform; Fon had also taken the opportunity to evaluate on how much his student had grown since his first heist.

After this first mission, they were called for a few more times after that which resulted in them staying in Japan for maybe two weeks. During this time, Spanner had developed contacts that would help the boy's vision as he worked during the night as well, and soon, Tsuna had begun to be more open towards the two and treated them like they were his best friends, which they did eventually become.

Later, Shoichi and Spanner were summoned back to Italy by Innocenti who had said that they made a breakthrough in their experiment and wanted them to document it together. "Well, it has been fun but I guess you're superiors are expecting you back now. After all, that was part of your schooling was it not?" Fon asked them.

"Yeah, we were part of a program and were sent to work under Verde and the others." Shoichi told them. Tsuna just nodded understandingly and smiled sadly. They were then off to the airport the next day and Tsuna and Fon went to see them off.

"I just wanted to thank you two for all of your help these past two weeks. Without you, I don't think I would've gotten through it unscathed."

"It was our pleasure, Kaitou (aka Kite)." Spanner said. Over the course of the two weeks, Spanner had developed this nickname for him as a pun for the word Kaitou, meaning Phantom Thief, while at the same time, used the same word which translated in English as a flying toy. This was something that the blond had envisioned the boy as, his own personal toy in which he could invent and test things on. Tsuna didn't mind, so long as he wouldn't come out with some serious injuries afterwards.

"We'll miss you a lot Tsuna-kun." Shoichi added on. Tsuna nodded then said that he had to leave before he was late for school. The two boys were then left with the one that had called them there in the first place and they just waited in silence until someone decided to say something.

Shoichi then broke the silence, not being able to withstand just standing there. "Ano... arigato, Fon-san." Shoichi said, even after spending so much time with the infant, he was still nervous and scared of saying something stupid in front of him.

"I should be the one to thank you." The arcobaleno answered. "You're services have been beyond my expectations and it is a shame for you two to leave now." Fon now understood what Innocenti had felt when he heard of these two leaving their lab. Even though it had only been two weeks, the infant had grown attached to these two, much like how he had grown attached to Tsuna.

"Well, you're flight will be taking off soon, are you two ready to take off?" Fon asked them.

"Y-Yeah, more or less." The redhead answered.

"Make sure you two haven't forgotten anything." He reminded them.

"I'm sure we didn't..." Shoichi started to say but then had a feeling of regret at the pit of his stomach.

"Have a safe trip you two." Fon waved and then retreated from Spanner's shoulder upon which he was perched upon. They waved back and went through the checking point. The feeling still hadn't left Shoichi as he moved through the metal detector. He grabbed his luggage and waited for Spanner to come through. The detector then beeped as the blond passed through and he was asked of the items he held on his person before scanning him with the handheld metal detector.

The boy then remembered receiving a pin of Japan from the brunette as they walked through some stores in the airport earlier and had forgotten that he kept it in his pocket. At that point, Shoichi came to a decision and ran over towards his friend. After Spanner was allowed to grab his luggage, the redhead had pulled him back through the metal detector and back out the entrance way. A woman called out towards them, saying that they were allowed to go through that way, but they had ignored her.

Rushing through, they had caught sight of Fon who still hadn't moved to leave yet though he was fairly surprised to find that the two boys had returned through the gateway. "Is something the matter?" He asked them.

"W-Would it be a-alright if we..." Shoichi tried to catch his breath after his adrenaline rush.

"He's asking if we can stay." Spanner finished, Shoichi throwing the boy a silent thank you. Fon was still surprised but then immediately went back to this normal expression.

"Of course, you're most welcome to remain. It is your decision after all." The arcobaleno then jumped back upon Spanner's shoulder and sat there. "I'm sure Tsuna would be most thrilled, after finding out your decision. But first things first, we must contact your school and Verde."

~End of Flashback~

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Hey Spanner, we're back!" Shoichi called out into his apartment. His mother and sister went out that day to do a few errands and have girl time together, so that left the boys alone in the house.

"Okaeri." He called from the guest room. The boys took off their shoes and walked over towards the blond's living space and found him tinkering with something at his desk. "Have you two seen the news yet?"

"No." They said in unison.

"Well, you might wanna flip the channel for a bit." He said lazily, not pausing to look at them.

"Something tells me that it isn't something I wanna see." Shoichi mumbled, a shadow hiding his eyes.

"Ha ha, well hopefully it isn't too bad." Tsuna tried to reassure him and turned the TV on.

"_...ust reported by the head police chief, Nakajima Eisuke, that there was a note left in the Crystal Museum in Tokyo, by the infamous Kaitou Cache. It reads: 'I shall steal that which only glistens at daybreak, in one week's time. Sincerely, Kaitou Cache (;P)' With this revelation, one can only assume that his target will be the Morning Star Gem welded into the crown of a princess from the Victorian Era of Europe. We are uncertain of what awaits the fate of this precious item but all we know for sure is that we have the support of the trustworthy police department who has, time and time again, defeated Kaitou Cache in his exploits." _The woman on the television then turned it over towards another anchorman but the boys had long stopped listening.

"How did he find out that we were going to target that next?" Shoichi continued to stare at the television set in disbelief.

"It must just be a coincidence but that guy is really annoying." Tsuna put his head between his hands and sighed. "So you guys really did find the background of that item huh?" Tsuna looked towards the redhead.

"Yeah, we found out that Kaneko Takumi was also the creator of this as well, so it's worth a shot to check it out." Shoichi explained, leading the way to his computer.

"So we'll just have to take the chance of meeting that Gesso." Tsuna sighed again, dreading the thought.

"We have no other choice, this is the job we signed up for, so we have to pull through on it." Spanner said, leaning against his door frame.

"But I didn't sign up for this." The brunette said almost to himself.

"Almost a year later and you start to complain now?" Shoichi joked.

"And you're trained for it, so we're doing it." Spanner then walked over. "I already mapped out the whereabouts of the target and the best way to get in. But you'll have to figure out on how to get out. Plus we'll now have to factor in the police formations."

"That's alright, I haven't had a good challenge in a while." Tsuna grinned and looked at the image that popped up on Shoichi screen and observed the finely designed crown.

**Phew…  
****That was a really long chapter wasn't it?  
****And I'm sorry if it felt like I was rushing and jumping all over the place  
****I just wanted to get this done and on paper  
****Err… well you know what I mean  
****Hope you enjoyed it**

**And I promise I'll give an extensive explanation about the artworks next chapter heehee  
****Just thought I'd give you guys a heads up about that  
****Jaa~ till next time ^^  
****Owari desu~**


	3. Target 2: Secret Within The Flames

**Chiwassu~~~  
****I just love this story so much actually haha  
****I have it almost all planned out and outlined the plot so I won't forget heehee  
****Recently, on top of my KHR obsession  
****After coming up with this idea, I had a DNAngel obsession!**

**Niwa Daisuke~~~! Dai suki da~~~~~  
****Haha that means that I love him lol**

**and I love Miyamoto Shunichi on top of that~~~~ ^^  
****If you haven't checked him out, THEN CHECK HIM OUT ON YOUTUBE  
****His songs are like MAGICCCC  
****Alright, enough fangirling…. For now  
****And just to summarize, here's what we know so far ~(^0^~)**

Fon is Tsuna's tutor  
How Shoichi and Spanner met Tsuna  
The introduction skip with Katsu and the famiglia  
Verde and the others' project  
Tsuna's knowledge of the mafia and Iemitsu  
Reborn has his suspicions  
Katsu's personality  
What Kaitou Cache looks like

**I think I got them all haha  
****Saa we start!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned KHR… then I would put in more badass girls and include them in the Vongola and his Guardians posse, so that there'd less of an overpower on poor Chrome-chan**

* * *

Target 2: Secret Within The Flame

There are many things that should remain a secret in this world... but there is always someone who wishes to know these very secrets.

"_Kaneko Takumi. He was a simple man who got by through life making artworks. It didn't matter for whom or for what reason, he would pull through on his own end of the bargain if it meant that he would get paid well and would be provided of materials. Every piece of art that he made has its own share of his past behind it, whether it be tragic or joyous, painful or comforting, but it was all for the sake of him living on in life. _

"_He lived through his artworks and each one was a part of his soul. He treated each one, no matter what the reason was for its creation, as if it were the most precious thing in the world. He loved them like they were his own children, nurturing them until the time came when they had to leave his side. _

"_Now, what he didn't know was that these feelings that he had as he was working were triggering an inner power unknown to him and was being embedded into these artworks as a response to the things he was feeling at the time. This inner power is known as the Dying Will Flame. The stronger a person feels, the stronger the resolve of the flame becomes and these flames within these art pieces, the ones that harboured the man's very emotions and own soul, were said to be the most precious but at the same time, the most dangerous. _

"_There was a legend about these art pieces that had suddenly appeared 20 years after the death of Kaneko Takumi in the early 20th century, saying that if the eight flames are brought together, then they will create something powerful and possibly devastating, if in the wrong hands. It is unknown if this legend is fact or fiction for the pieces containing the supposed flames have never been found. _

"_It was found out from a journal of said artist that he had possibly created 64 works but it was never recorded to who they were given or where these pieces had ended up. Only the items that have been passed down through generations of a family are truly known to be Kaneko's work. Sometimes, even the most talented and observant art inspectors are able to detect the fine style of the artist, using his other works as a reference, revealing the art's origin. So as a result, only 23 of these works have been made known and many others (number unknown) have been kept from the public's knowledge, due to the secrecy of the owners of these pieces. This meant that finding the 8 containing the strongest emotions of the man, which also contain the strongest flames would be near impossible._

"_Now, these flames, as previously mentioned, have been embedded with the man's very soul as well as his emotions. These emotions have created the eight different and unique flames, and because of this fact, it was assumed that Kaneko had harboured the Sky Flames due to its affinity with its environment. The eight different emotions are Ecstasy, Admiration, Terror, Amazement, Grief, Loathing, Rage and Vigilance._

"_An Italian famiglia that my family is affiliated with had entrusted us with the task of trying to recover these lost pieces of art to prevent any unwanted damage. However, my family and I weren't the only ones who sought these pieces. There is another famiglia, the Gesso Famiglia, who wish to find them and discover their power so that they could wield it and claim the title as the strongest. Their leader, Byakuran Gesso, though he may be a teenage boy, has the mind of a genius and wishes to claim the "Ultimate Power" as his own. _

"_We still haven't figured out his motives as to why he wishes to wield such power but rumors have it that this power is on par with that of the Triniset, who's basic foundation is to maintain the earth's balance, growth and development. There's been no report of success on either side so far about the finding of the flames, even after over half a century of searching. _

"_It is for this reason that you should steal these works of art to prevent the Gesso's from obtaining their goal. Whenever I or my family gets a tip about a target, then we will go for it whole heartedly, no matter how slim the chance of the work being a part of Kaneko's Collection may be. If you are still willing to help after hearing this, then we shall start your training immediately..." _

Tsuna had suddenly thought back to the explanation that his teacher, Fon, had told him nearly a year ago when they had first met. He hadn't really known why the arcobaleno had decided to take him on and train him to become the Phantom Thief now known as Kaitou Cache, but he didn't ponder much on the thought after hearing the extensive explanation.

It came as a shock to him when the infant had suddenly asked him if he wanted to learn how to be a thief. Unable to respond at the time, Tsuna just looked at the baby dumbfounded, saying that he was crazy. Eventually, he had agreed for some reason he didn't really remember but all the same, he had agreed.

This was pretty much how Tsuna had gained the knowledge of the Arcobaleno Curse, the Triniset, the Mafias in Italy and his skills at sneaking, lock picking and quick thinking. Along the way, he had learned self defense and even a little bit about controlling dying will flames, to which he learned he could control two different, rare types. But he only used them in the case of an emergency.

"Cache-kun, are you there?" Shoichi's voice could be heard through the wristwatch communicator.

"Yeah, I'm outside the target area and I must say, Nakajima-san has really outdone himself with the outside security." Tsuna joked, and surveilled the area. He took note that even if the Crystal Museum was located in a local, busy neighbourhood, the tall building was right beside a large park.

"At least he learned that he should focus on your entrance and escape instead of the actual guarding." Spanner commented.

"Haha, I don't think that's one up for us if the keibu (inspector) is learning." The brunette said. "so, the target is the Morning Star Gem embedded Crown, right?" Tsuna made sure to clarify.

"That's the one. The owner had claimed on a classified blog that this crown was an heirloom passed down through generations and was created by the recently made famous Kaneko Takumi." Shoichi read his data out loud.

"At least that makes our job easier but it would be even easier if the Gesso boss hadn't sent that card." The brunette felt like he was up to his last straw with the teenage boss. They've only made direct contact three times since Tsuna had first debuted as a thief but each encounter ended up even worse than the last.

"I'll have to stop communications here, I have to get this done and get back home as soon as possible. Reborn started getting direct about his suspicions." Tsuna sighed but there was a hint of amusement in his voice.

"Alright..." Shoichi answered back, having an idea on what the infant would be doing at the Sawada household. He's never been there personally and he figured that the brunette hadn't told his family about him or Spanner due to his Dame act, which consisted of him being too shy, antisocial or too clumsy to make any friends. It must have been tough at school for him but it was for the sake of their mission. Though, Shoichi was fine with not knowing the boy's family personally as he was familiar with the brunette himself.

Tsuna then shut down the communicator and opened a secret hatch that was located in the trunk of the tree he was standing on. He entered and slide down a tube that led to an underground passage. His contacts, which he had put on prior to his arrival, had allowed him to see through the dark, so he had no trouble navigating his way.

He was happy that this heist was located in an old, run down Cathedral which was turned into a museum. Because of that, there were many secret passages that weren't known to the new owners and most of them were all sealed either way, but Kaitou Cache had a way to get through. He had memorized all the passages, so all he had to worry about was security.

Tsuna moved up an old stone stairwell which ran up in a spiral, around a solid center pillar, until he reached a thick wooden door. He knelt down for a moment and listened through the door to see if he could hear something. _'If I memorized the map correctly, then behind this door should be the second floor in one of the antique rooms.'_ He thought to himself and tried to push on the door.

The door moved a bit but the movement was blocked by something. He figured it must've been an old drawer or a desk. If he pushed any harder, then the furniture would scratch against the floor and he'd be discovered. Tsuna took a step away from the passage for a moment and observed it for a moment. He then noticed something strange about the whole doorway as there was a pretty large space around the door for something that was supposed to be a secret passage way. Something then clicked in his mind and searched the walls next to him for something.

After a few moments, he found a loose brick and pushed on it and then the ground that he was standing on had spun around and the entire wall turned and allowed him access into the room. Once he stepped off the circumference of the secret entrance, it spun back to its original state. _'Handy.'_ He thought before he made his way towards the hallway entrance.

He knelt on the ground again to see if there were vibrations on the ground and felt none on this side of the floor. He listened and there was no movement on the other side either, so he deemed this area as clear. He carefully opened the door and surveilled the area before pressing on again. He crept his way around and remembered that this hall, once you moved around the corner, had doubled as a balcony to the main sanctuary where the crown was on display. He stopped at the edge of the hall and looked to see a few policemen standing guard.

"Now what do I do?" Tsuna said to himself and thought for a moment. He then heard rustling coming from behind a door that he was next to. _'That must be the viewing balcony.'_ Tsuna realized and smiled. He opened the door for a moment and slipped in unnoticed. He stuck to the wall and stayed in the shadow as the light wasn't turned on in the room, which was one up for him.

There were only two people inside the room and when he looked through the window, no one was looking up here. He swiftly moved to them and knocked them out, then laid them against the wall. Tsuna looked through the window and saw that the whole room below was completely void of the long wooden benches and were replaced with many antique items, leaving much more space.

There were many policemen lined up along the walls and a few guarding the centerpiece. "So we meet again, Kaitou-kun." A voice cut his thoughts short as he spun around and came face to face with a teen a little older than him with white hair and purple tattoos under his eyes. He wore a white uniform and a never changing smile pasted upon his face.

"Byakuran... so you showed up this time around." Tsuna said to the other. "This must be a legit item if you had to come personally, instead of your sending your lackeys." The brunette said sarcastically.

"Oh you misunderstand, Kaitou-kun. I came here to see you tonight for I have some things I'd like to discuss with you." He said sweetly. Tsuna had noticed that the white haired boy wasn't looking at him but was staring at the crown behind him. He eyed the other carefully but the Gesso boss hadn't moved an inch.

"Well, whatever proposition you have me, I'll decline." The brunette made sure to keep an eye on the crown in case the Gesso had something planned and was merely distracting him from the mission.

"I advise that you listen before you decline anything." Byakuran said calmly. "I'm sure you still won't listen to me but I'll say it anyways." Byakuran was now looking directly at the phantom thief. "Now I want you give up this childish game you're playing. There's no possible way for you to defeat me in this game I call The Heist and for your own safety, I suggest you listen to me." Tsuna inwardly scoffed at that for the one playing games was Byakuran.

"The answer is still no, Byakuran and I assure you that I won't stop. Now it's my turn to make a request." Tsuna turned around fully facing the Gesso. "I want to know why you are seeking these items."

"My, my, straight down to business are we?" Byakuran chuckled to himself. "I'm afraid that is classified information and that is a story to tell for another time. But now, I must be off... well... you will be off. We both know that this room is right above the entrance to the large sanctuary soo... have a safe trip." Byakuran smiled one last time before a trap door opened under the phantom thief catching him off guard.

Tsuna landed with a thud and right next to a man on guard. Luckily there was only one man and he was about to yell and whip out his whistle when Tsuna covered his mouth and knocked him out instantly. "I guess luck really is a part of this job." Tsuna sighed in relief and luckily, both doors were closed and didn't have any windows so that people could peer in.

"The crown's been stolen!" Someone from the sanctuary exclaimed and the boy heard loud thuds coming from inside.

"Great, he beat me to it." Tsuna then found a staircase and remembered that it led up to the second floor. If he wanted to get up there before he was noticed, then he had to make haste. He bolted up and then went up a ladder which led to the roof. There was no movement so he figured that the Gesso or whoever the man had hired to pickpocket the crown was still trying to avoid the police inside. If they were as informed as he was, then they wouldn't try to leave through the ground doors or any of the windows and would come up to the roof.

"He's coming through the entrance, I repeat coming through the entrance." Someone announced over the speakers.

Tsuna sweatdropped and looked over the roof. "Is this guy for real?"

"I guess he wasn't the best person to choose for this heist huh?" Byakuran joked, suddenly appearing behind the brunette.

"You're joking right? Do you even take this seriously?" Tsuna felt his patience getting tested but that was normal every time he was around the other teen. Byakuran just made a shrugging motion with his hands and shoulders, trying to look innocent but the brunette just rolled his eyes; not that the other could see them.

"Freeze Kaitou Cache, you're under arrest!" Tsuna looked again and realized that the other was somewhat dressed like him but his body movements resembled anything but balance or agility; it practically screamed amateur. This really was a game to the white haired boy. "Baka Keibu." Tsuna mumbled under his breath before he made sure the rope that he had placed earlier was secure. He then took one last look at the Gesso who waved him farewell before the phantom thief jumped off the roof, and swung down, swiping the crown out of the fake's hands.

During the process, he had left a sticky note on the fake's face before he disappeared into the trees of the nearby park. "You men follow him!" Nakajima exclaimed before walking up to the apprehended man. "You have some explaining to do, sir. Take him to the station." Nakajima ordered as he pulled off the note.

_Baka Keibu,_

_I expected more than for you to notice a fake when one is present  
__I now thank you for a wonderful present ;P  
__Till the next time we play..._

_Sincerely, Kaitou Cache~_

"That boy!" Nakajima crumpled up the note and radioed the men that ran after the thief. "Did you find him?!" The man was extremely flustered.

"No sir, he isn't here. There are many broken branches which indicated that he may have taken a fall but there's no sign of him anywhere." The man answered back. He and three others had their flashlights out and were walking down the park path slowly, making sure that the thief wasn't in any of the possible hiding spots around.

"There's no sign of him anywhere." They all called before retreating.

"The target has gotten away, I repeat, the target has gotten away." The policemen retreated.

As for the phantom thief himself, he was lying on the side of the pathway as the four men passed him. He rested underneath the broken branches after he had a misstep. The crown was still intact but he had to remain silent as the cops had passed him twice. When they were finally gone, he groaned.

Before he had made impact, he immediately veiled himself with his flames so that he could erase his presence entirely and become invisible to the eye. It had allowed him to become the environment itself and that was how he had hid from them this time, though he only used it in the case of an immediate emergency, which this situation was.

When he was for sure that he was alone, he opened his communicator and contacted the redhead. "Ne Shoichi, you there?" Tsuna grunted and released his flames.

"Cache-kun, what happened? Are you alright?" The boy was instantly worried. He probably noticed immediately that the other was in anything but an alright state.

"Yeah, fine, no landing that I can't walk away from." Tsuna sighed and pushed himself to sit up and leaned against a tree.

"Walk away from? What happened?" The panicked boy exclaimed.

"Shoichi, you're too loud." Tsuna heard Spanner in the background. "Ne Kaitou, what's your situation." The blond asked this time.

"I was jumping trees when a branch snapped." Tsuna felt ashamed to say. "I had to use flames to cover myself."

"D-Do you feel alright then? That puts a lot of strain on your body, doesn't it?" Shoichi went back to his panic mode.

"I told you it was no landing I can't walk away from. I'll be by your house in about 10 minutes or so to drop off the crown before going home. What time is it?"

"Nineteen Twenty Eight hours, oh sorry... about 7:30." Spanner responded.

"Alright... I'll see you in a bit." Tsuna switched off his communicator then ran off to change before taking the train back to Namimori.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Once the brunette showed up at the redhead's door at around 8, they pulled him inside and did a check over him. He was a bit bruised and scratched up but all in all, he was fine. The boy then took out the crown and gave it to them. "I met the Gesso today." Tsuna said calmly but the irritation could be heard behind his voice.

"What did he say?" Shoichi asked.

"The usual... but he hired a fake me who tried to take the crown." Tsuna felt his vein pop in annoyance.

"Yeah, we saw the news... and the play back. They even got you on camera and they made it seem like you flew in and flew out." Spanner said like it wasn't a big deal.

"The reporter started saying stuff about Kaitou Cache being a ghost." Shoichi was amused by the thought as the real Phantom Thief was in front of him.

"Reporters seem to do what they want as usual." Tsuna sighed for the umpteenth time that night. "But Byakuran seems to be playing around with us, it was like when he saw the crown in the viewing room above the sanctuary, he knew already that it wasn't the item he was looking for. He practically gave it to me when I saw him again on the roof." Tsuna was suspicious about the mafia boss' odd behavior.

"Well, we'll be the judge of if this is a legit item or not. Well examine it and see if we can find traces of the Flame in it, then I'll tell you as soon as we find out." Shoichi told the other. "As for your flames, I still can't believe you're able to wield two of the rarest flames..." The redhead was still impressed the brunette, especially when he and Spanner had done their research on Dying Will Flames when they worked with Verde and the others.

"If there are any discoveries that you make about them, remember to tell us." Spanner reminded.

"Yeah, I got it." Tsuna sweatdropped at the two's eagerness on the subject.

The two scientists (in training) had found out that there were only seven types that people could wield, though certain people could wield more than one at a time. But they had discovered an old rumor that had been going around for centuries as they did their research: it was the rumor of an eighth element, the Flame of Night.

The whole of its characteristics was still a mystery and was said to only have been a myth since there was almost no record of people wielding it. Those who have claimed to wield it were rare but rumor had it that it was a flame that lived inside every human being, much like how everyone had a certain flame element and it was sometimes described as one's inner darkness.

Fon had said otherwise; stating that it was slightly inaccurate and told them that it wasn't necessarily born from evil intentions and is merely a representation of the faults of humans. This confused them but regardless, figured that if they continued to learn about it, then they'd eventually understand the message that the martial artists was trying to convey.

The instant that they had found out that their friend had been one of the rare wielders, they had eagerly jumped at the chance to observe him and made him spill everything he knew about them.

They never told Verde of this though, for Fon, the one who had made the discovery and was a full wielder himself, had instructed that they never tell anyone of this. If this had gotten out to the public, then he and his student would be hunted down and taken into a lab to be studied and that was something he didn't want for his student, not for a million dollars or anything that anyone had to offer.

But the fact was that the existence of the Night Flames was common knowledge for people who are directly involved with them; ie the Vindice, high ranking Mafia Bosses, especially Vongola and the External Advisor, and the Arcobaleno. However, it was still unknown as to who was a user or not as people had kept this to themselves for safety reasons, but people had their suspicions. The only users that are known by these certain people was the Vindice.

However, Fon had told them that the flames that were wielded by Vindice were impure flames, shown to have an ebony, inky appearance instead of the pure flames which were soft black flames, emitting a faint glow and had a silvery violet lining.

There was also a side effect to these flames as it was practically, almost entirely invisible to the naked eye and only other wielders could see them clearly. So everything that the boys had recorded about these flames had been from Tsuna's own personal experiences with them. They also discovered that to become a wielder, one must purposefully activate their inner Night Flame though by the two wielder's testimony, people activate them by accident on a daily basis.

The exception was that impure flames could be viewed by any and all who were in its presence.

Tsuna had said his goodbyes before heading home about a half hour later. He walked through the door and found his family about to start eating dinner already, with Lambo, Ipin and Bianchi sitting there as well as Reborn.

"Okaeri Tsu-kun, we were just about to start eating." Nana greeted her son.

"Ah, arigato Okaa-san but I already ate out... gomen." Tsuna apologized.

"I shall eat Dame-Tsuna's food gyahahaha!" Lambo exclaimed and immediately started eating. Tsuna's eye twitched at the nickname but it went unnoticed as he headed up the stairs. But then he realized something that was off in the house. When he looked again, he noticed that Fuuta wasn't there, eating with them like he had the day before and it made him wonder where the boy could have gotten to. Surely his mother would notice something as she had also invited the boy to stay with them.

He saw that Reborn was a bit on edge too but he hid it well. Katsu just seemed oblivious to it as he looked like he didn't care about anything as usual. _'I hope nothing bad happened to the boy.'_ Tsuna thought before going to his room but his inner feelings had said otherwise, in contrast to the hope in his thoughts. It didn't help that it made him feel uncomfortable, like something was tugging at him to be alert at all times.

He didn't like where this was headed but the brunette just knew that his somewhat peaceful days would end tomorrow. Something big was about to happen and it involved him and probably many others.

**Wow, that was a pretty informative chapter  
****But I sorta flaked out at the end haha  
****Though, I did reveal a lot of things that I was planning on saving haha  
****Me and my lack of restraint -.-'  
****But whatever… I just hope I wasn't confusing or anything  
****And just so you know, this is my take on expanding on the Night Flames  
****I wanted to make them into something instead of just leaving them as 'Special Flames'**

**I'll give you guys a basic overview on how I wanted to see them:**

Night (Notte) Flames:  
Characteristic: Liberty (freelance flame ie. complete inner balance)  
Ability: Able to open other boxes by bypassing or overpowering the compatibility characteristics; can cloak a user's presence, which allows them to become 'shadow/ghost-like', in other words, allows one to become or disappear into their environment; may enhance a user's strength; engulfs or accepts other flames

Note: said to be the counterpart to the Sky Flames, harmony (complete outer balance?) is that right?

Overview:  
Like Sky Flames, users are a rare occurrence. It is so rare for one to become a user that this eighth flame is considered to be a myth or a joke to the public.

In contrast to Sky Flames, which harmonizes with its surroundings/environment and accepts all things unrelated to one's self, the Night Flames allow its user to harmonize with one's self by accepting one's faults and represents a state without doubt, hesitation or anxiety in which one feels utter resolve and has peace at mind. In other words, it's a type of liberation that allows the user to achieve internal calmness by accepting who they are and allows one to disappear and become the environment themselves.

Unlike the belief of people or rumors, the Night Flame was not necessarily created through bitterness and hatred. The flame, unlike all others, exists within everyone, much like how everyone has a specific flame type, and may be classified as the darkness in one's heart; though this is slightly inaccurate as the flame was not entirely for evil as used by Daemon or Bermuda. The darkness lives in everyone and the flame is a representation of that; everyone must learn to accept it and break through its evilness to find the liberty in your being.

Pure flames are hard to see to those who have yet to awaken the full potential of their night flames that lie dormant inside them. Sometimes, people may accidentally access these flames; however, they would be unaware of them. To become a true user, one must purposefully activate night flames. It's somewhat visible but hard to see or notice due to its ability to mask the user's aura aka presence and allows them to blend into the environment. The flames are soft yet black which emphasizes its ability to cloak the user, making one appear to be a 'shadow' or 'ghost'.

Impure flames may be viewed by anyone but the people wielding them aren't necessarily considered as true users. What gives the impure flame its inky appearance is the corruption of a person's feelings and thoughts which have been embedded into them.

**Does this make sense to you guys?  
****I hope I'm not just jumping around with my ideas o.O  
****And I wanted to make it clear that this is **

**MY VIEW ON HOW I SEE NIGHT FLAMES… and yes I did the research haha ^^**

**And I hope the part about DW Flames in the Artwork made sense  
****I know I pretty much used the idea from DNAngel  
****but I couldn't really work around that…  
****when I finished the background of the art, I realized a little too late  
****so I'm sorry about that  
****but I guess I did sort of warn you about that at the beginning**

**oh well, I'm rambling so I'll stop  
****if you have questions, review or PM me anytime!  
****Owari desu~**

Updated: 17/12/2012


	4. Target 3: Just a Day in Life

**Chiwassu~  
****So I hope you guys are really liking this story so far  
****But this chapter, will now focus on the canon characters  
****...and Katsu too haha  
****Can't forget about the boy who kicked Tsuna out of the Heir position**

**So, now that everyone is here, I'll have to start on the new arc  
****I just hope you guys got the information I set out last chapter  
****It was really an earful wasn't it?  
****Haha sorry  
****And sorry for making you guys wait for sooo long~~~  
****Saa, story start!**

**Disclaimer: If I owned KHR, then I'd be the happiest person on the planet to have created such wonderful characters… on reality's side, I didn't create these characters and therefore, I'm not the happiest person and there therefore, I don't own KHR… reality is really tough *sighs (_ _")**

**Ps: end of term is coming and I won't be studying for the summer so, I have four months of FREEDOM! That's it**

* * *

Target 03: Just a Day in Life

Tsuna yawned and woke up early as per usual. He in fact, really liked mornings. They were one of the most peaceful times of the day and he could just relax and take in the warmth of the sun shining through his window. He didn't have to think much and could just laze around for a moment or two before he'd have to come downstairs. His mother didn't mind his company when he was with her in the kitchen; she woke up much earlier than he did to get an early start on the household chores.

"Ohayo okaa-san." Tsuna gave her a warm smile before helping her to set the table.

"Did you sleep well, Tsu-kun?" Nana smiled back as she continued cooking the breakfast. She finished one up early and handed it to her son.

"Hai, and sorry I had to miss dinner with you last night." Tsuna apologized but his mother just shook her head and told him not to mind it. She then proceeded to tell him about what Lambo and Ipin were doing during the day before. He just smiled and laughed when she laughed, not wanting her to feel bad about the little jokes she made every now and then. Ever since he had started this thieving job, he had begun to understand just how important it was to spend time with his family. He never knew what would happen on the job so he made sure to treasure every moment he had with his mother and his brother, when Katsu actually let those moments appear.

Tsuna finished up his breakfast before looking at the time. It was around the time when Reborn would go to wake up his twin. Though, his methods of waking people up were different than what normal people would do. He'd gather buckets of iced water, bring up tazers and voltage batteries with cables, sometimes, Tsuna would see these clever contraptions hanging over top the peaceful sleeping boy and the next movement that he'd make would trigger the whole thing, resulting in something landing on him. Whether it be heavy weighted items, or the buckets of water or eels, it was different each time and it never ceased to amuse the brunette.

This was the other reason why he would wake up early; it was to escape the wake up attempts on himself by the sadistic baby. "I'll be going now Okaa-san, I'll call if I'm going to be late." Tsuna waved goodbye, noticing the loud exclaim that erupted from his twin's room. _"He must be awake now."_ Tsuna thought amused.

"Have a good day, and try your hardest at school!" Nana called back as the door had shut. Reborn then found his way to the kitchen table and sat in his seat.

"Good morning Mama, did Tsuna leave already?" Reborn asked the woman.

"Yes, Tsu-kun likes leaving early but I wonder why it is that he never does well in school. I see him study and he does his homework on time, but his tests don't reflect that hard work." Nana frowned and pondered on this for a moment longer before drawing her attention back to the food.

"Probably because Tsuna was as dame as he was in elementary school." Katsu said as he walked in. Reborn whacked him in the head.

"That's no way to talk about family." Reborn scolded. He really had to do a number on his student to alter his attitude. Katsu only conversed with people when he felt like it or needed to but when he did speak, it was always cocky, sarcastic and usually insulting to the one being spoken to or about. The infant figured that he was the 'uncaring stoic type' of person on the outside but when it comes down to it, he would be of big help to people in need. He was pretty soft on the inside, as shown when he dealt with Yamamoto and Haru but he wasn't entirely sure if that was an act or if it was his true nature.

That was something that pissed Reborn off when it came to the twins, he could never figure out what their true nature was. Tsuna was kind and gentle yet seemingly had poor grades and lacked physical abilities. Katsu was doing well in school and was very active, though his personality was something of a turn off. He's insensitive and doesn't care about anything unrelated to himself but as aforementioned, there was another underside to this personality that seemed carefully hidden.

Reborn had to find his answers fast and he wouldn't let the Sawada Twins get the best of him and play him for a fool, even if it was unintentional on their part. As a revenge for his painful thinking, he stole the golden haired boy's food.

"Hey I was eating that!" Katsu narrowed his eyes at the infant.

"You snooze, you lose Ba-Katsu." Reborn retorted. (little Japanese nickname: mixing 'baka' with 'Katsu' thus the name meaning stupid Katsu)

"Katchan, if you don't leave soon, you'll be late." Nana said. Katsu nodded and said his goodbyes to his mother. She saw Reborn get up and leave as her son did and she knew that he'd be safe today as well because Reborn would be there to watch over him. Then Lambo and Ipin came in the kitchen followed by Bianchi who offered to help with the dishes later. She smiled and thanked the woman before settling down to eat as well.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Earlier~

Tsuna had walked out of the house and was moving towards the gate when he felt the presence of people standing by. He continued to walk casually but made sure to keep his guard up just in case. When he got there, he found his brother's two most trusted friends, or sidekicks may be the more appropriate word in Katsu's case. Tsuna then immediately dropped the suspicious aura and moved to his dame self.

"O-Ohayo G-Gokudera-kun, Yamamoto-kun..." Tsuna gave a nervous smile. He noticed the disappointed look on the silverette's face. "I-If you're w-waiting for Katsu... R-Reborn just woke him up so..." Tsuna didn't feel the need to finish.

"It's fine." Yamamoto smiled back towards the brunette. "It's nice seeing you too, Tsuna." Yamamoto had decided to call both twins by their first names so that there wouldn't be any confusion between them.

"But you two are always so early and I feel bad that Katsu is always making you two wait for him." Tsuna voiced his opinion.

"We didn't ask for your opinion, did we?" Gokudera said harshly. "You're just a copy, a Pseudo version of my precious Juudaime." He mumbled.

"Maa maa, Gokudera, no need for name calling. Tsuna and Katsu are both different; no one's a copy of anyone else."

"That's fine, Yamamoto-kun." Tsuna smiled. "Well, I'll be leaving so see you at school." Tsuna waved before passing the pair. Tsuna then continued down till he reached one of the school's back entrances which went past the large dirt field and baseball diamond. He normally entered through the back so as to avoid any unnecessary attention from bystanders who liked hanging around the front, or were waiting for friends to arrive.

Once Tsuna arrived, he looked around cautiously for anyone that may be around. It was pretty early to be at school but that didn't mean that there weren't those early comers plus those who had morning duty chores. But in particular, the brunette was trying to scout out the presence of a certain someone that always roamed the school grounds from dawn to dusk.

When Tsuna was certain that no... ahem, 'normal people' were around, he stalked through the fence but just after a few feet, he froze and immediately side stepped, though he made it look like he had tripped; but nonetheless, he managed to evade a metal object swiping down where his head used to be. Any later and his skull would have been split in two. Tsuna looked back and found the president of the disciplinary committee hunched over, with his tonfa at hand, in a post slashing state.

"Hiiieee... Ah, O-Ohayo H-Hibari-san." Tsuna tried to give a sincere and non-herbivore like smile but unfortunately, he didn't know what that looked like. He would normally meet Hibari when he arrived at school, but there were days when he got lucky and the prefect didn't show up. However, Tsuna didn't know the reason for these constant meetings or what Hibari had wanted exactly from him, but he had a pretty good guess; he doesn't really remember how many times he's confronted Hibari since the first time he did so either.

Tsuna had the feeling that the skylark had noticed something about him, observed and then ended up waiting till he arrived to school. Now that the brunette thought about it, it was very carnivore like of the prefect. The boy just guessed that since Hibari may have noticed something about him other than his Dameness, he was probably testing the waters to see if he could get a good fight out of him. The skylark had a pretty uncanny sixth sense for tough opponents; though for the sake of his preserving his Dame self, usually after giving his quick greeting, the brunette would immediately jet off somewhere else, avoiding any violence.

"Hn." The prefect just stood up from his kneeling position and looked at the brunette with analyzing eyes.

"I-Is something t-the matter?" Tsuna knew that he shouldn't stutter since he knew that Hibari hated it when he did but in order to keep up appearances, he did what he had to no matter the risk. "I-If you're looking for Katsu, then..."

"I'm not looking for the cocky herbivore. I came to test something." Hibari said and positioned his tonfas as if giving the brunette a warning that he was going to attack yet again. _'Please don't tell me that Hibari really did notice something!' _Tsuna shouted in his mind and had a scared expression. This was actually the most that he'd ever spoken with the prefect since normally, he would have ran away by now, but for Hibari to answer verbally was something that made him stay where he was.

"W-What are you t-testing H-Hibari-san?" Tsuna asked, genuinely nervous. Hibari didn't answer however and just gave a quick smirk before saying his signature catchphrase.

"Kamikorosu." The boy then leaped into action and charged towards the poor Dame-labeled kid. Tsuna didn't know what to do, should he take the hit or should he dodge? But either way, both options were pretty bad. He couldn't risk getting hurt before knowing when his two genius friends would find a lead on an artwork but on the other hand, he would risk blowing his cover if he did dodge. As he continued to think of any other possible option, Tsuna had dodged reflexively and paled at that.

'_Damn reflexes.'_ Tsuna cursed himself and then ultimately decided to just let it go this one time at least. Hibari was surprised that the other had dodged his attack seemingly with ease and it fueled his interest further. His eyes seemed to narrow further as if focusing his attacks and began to speed up slowly so that the other wouldn't notice. Tsuna just continued to evade naturally.

Soon, instead of just evading attacks, he would move around Hibari's arms so as to redirect the direction of the blow or would just knock the tonfas away from him, but he still made a few struggling noises for appearances. Then to put space between them, Tsuna jumped back to observe Hibari's movements but the other moved fast, not letting him rest; Hibari was there on a sort of mission after all, a mission of self-interest that is.

After a few moments, Hibari stopped and Tsuna fell on one knee panting, but didn't lower his guard. It wasn't until they stopped moving that Tsuna noticed how fast Hibari made him move. "You're holding back. That's why you're still an herbivore." Hibari said.

"I-I don't u-under...stand w-what you m-mean, Hibari-san." Tsuna stood up warily with a small smile. Hibari didn't say anything after that and just walked away. The brunette sighed in relief before looking at the time, noticing that his 'fight' had taken up a good couple of minutes. By this time, other students had started to arrive as well and Tsuna decided to get to the classroom before things got worse.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

School hadn't changed in any way. The lessons were still boring, the teachers still picked on him mercilessly and the other students weren't any better. When breaks between classes started, the brunette spent most of his time avoiding bullies and the predator of all predators, the disciplinary skylark. Tsuna found that his school days never really had a sense of ease to them, much like his current household life.

When lunch finally rolled around, he was able to find sanctuary on the roof top as not most people like to go and spend their time up there. He relaxed as he settled by the fence and watched the school grounds as groups of girls with their lunches at hand walked around while others sat on the benches by the baseball diamond to watch some of the boys play a small game. Then there were other groups of kids who were scattered all over the school inside and out but Tsuna paid more attention to those aforementioned as they were the noisiest.

Like those girls, he watched the game as he ate his lunch and then immediately spotted Yamamoto who was going up to bat. There was a pause before the ball was slammed out of everyone's vision.

"Dude, you did it again!"

"My ball!"

"That was awesome!" Some of the boys said, either congratulating or scolding the boy. Although Tsuna couldn't really hear them, he was reading their mouth movements... at least, as much as he could see their mouths moving. He then saw Yamamoto apologizing with a smile spread across his face but somehow, that smile really frustrated the brunette. He didn't like the expression that the boy was making or the laughs that he tried to share with his friends. Tsuna saw that every day from being in the same classroom as them but even from the roof, he could still spot that.

Then there was Gokudera's natural tendency to be a loud potty mouth, which gets him in trouble with adults often; however, girls found that to be attractive somehow, which confused the brunette. Tsuna thought of this pair as strange as they were supposed to be in the family with Katsu. They even wait so loyally outside the house for him, but once they reach the school, Katsu just separates from them and hangs out with other people.

Yamamoto still has his friends from sports, which was good for him, but Gokudera was very antisocial and on top of that, he was a new transfer that year. Tsuna would've approached him but having himself as a friend would greatly deteriorate his social standing at school. He didn't have to worry further about that since Katsu had approached him in his stead; though it was because of Reborn, heck, Reborn was the entire reason why Gokudera was there in the first place.

But there was something extremely off with the three's relationship with each other. It wasn't anything like other famiglias that he's seen and they held no bond together whatsoever. Sure Tsuna didn't like Reborn involving normal people with normal lives in the mafia affairs, but he had to admit, the people that he chose did have potential to be successful as the Vongola tenth generation. But there was still something the matter with them all as none of the family members seemed to be friends or even interacted with each other at all for that matter.

Tsuna's thoughts were cut short as there was a beeping noise coming from his cell phone. He snapped out of his train of thought and looked at the caller to find that it was Shoichi.

"Moshimoshi?" Tsuna spoke into the phone.

"_Ah Tsuna-kun, sorry to disturb you during your lunch break but I just wanted to relay some news that I heard. It's been going around some of the famiglias but it's pretty much a hushed secret."_ He said worriedly. _"I just happened to overhear."_

(A/N: let's just say that they have a device that picks up transmissions randomly... though they programmed it so that it would be connections from the mafia links... So they'd listen to it like a radio and the people wouldn't be able to hear or track them without a bit of work.)

"What is it, Shoichi? If you had to call me during school, then it must be really important. Don't worry, I'm alone on the roof, and Reborn is watching Katsu from a tree across the dirt field."

"_Well, um... you see..."_ Shoichi was stuttering, feeling his stomach aching.

"_Just tell him already."_ Tsuna can hear Spanner in the background.

"_R-Rokudo M-Mukuro was said to be in town according to a source of the Vongola." _

"What? Do they know what he's after?"

"_Well, there were sure per say but I looked him up and it said that he's an escapee from Vindice Prison in Italy. Also, he escaped with a lot of other people who seemed to be cooperating with him. They all disappeared after that. But it's said that he hold a deep hatred of the mafia, so that might be what he's aiming for, but I have no idea why he would be here in Japan; Namimori no less." _

"Thanks for the info; I'll keep an eye out. But if this is a matter of the Vongola, then I'm sure that the Nono has already informed Reborn of this." Tsuna speculated.

"_I guess, but please don't do anything rash should anything happen, Tsuna-kun. If something happens, then we wouldn't be able to carry out our mission in collecting the art works and stopping the Gesso Famiglia in the process." _

"I know, I know, but you can trust me, can't you Shoichi?" Tsuna joked.

"_Well, you tend to rush into things before thinking it through, especially when it involves people in danger. So I can't trust you completely."_ Shoichi joked back.

"Hehehe, I guess I do have that habit." Tsuna laughed. Just then, the school bell had gone off and Tsuna panicked a bit. "Sorry, Shoichi, the bell just went off, so I'll call you later if anything happens."

"_Oh okay, then I'll do the same if I find anything else."_ The two boys then hung up and the brunette rushed off to class before so as to avoid the wrath of the prefect.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

After school had ended, Tsuna was trailing home. School was giving him such a headache and he couldn't take it anymore. He knew how to do the problems and answer the questions but for the sake of preserving his identity, he had to go through purposely failing.

Tsuna let out a long sigh and let his guard down for a moment. But it only took that one moment to give him a small shock as someone had reached out to him and put a hand on his shoulder. "Hiiieeee!" Tsuna jumped away from the contact and was about to go into a fighting stance when he caught glimpse of who it was. So instead, he just fell back and looked exasperated at a slightly stunned yet amused looking Yamamoto.

"Y-Yamamoto-kun... you really surprised me." Tsuna faked calming down.

"Whoops... sorry about that Tsuna." The black haired boy smiled and held out a hand for the smaller. Tsuna took it but not before giving the baseball ace an odd look. "Is something the matter?" Yamamoto caught the other off guard again.

"Huh? Ah, sorry... I didn't mean to look at you that way." Tsuna apologized immediately as he stood up. "But sorry if you thought that I was Katsu." The brunette tried to lead away from the topic of Yamamoto's fake expressions.

"No, no, I was actually running to catch up to you. Katsu said that he had to go off somewhere and wouldn't be going back home for a while. So since it was a rare chance, I thought I'd try hanging out with you too since I hang out with your brother."

"Oh you really don't have to if you feel like you must. I'm sure your reputation would be ruined if you hung out with me." Tsuna said in a quiet tone and starting to walk down the block again, just like he did before his 'big scare'.

"Naw, I don't feel that way at all, and besides, all of my friends had something else planned since practice was cancelled today." The boy laughed. "I asked Gokudera to come with us but he said that if Katsu wasn't there, then there was no point in hanging out together. He's not very honest haha."

"_But he isn't the only one, is he?"_ Tsuna mentally asked but just nodded sadly in response, though it went unnoticed by the other. Just then, his phone went off and Tsuna panicked a bit since he knew that it was Shoichi, of course because no one else, maybe other than his mom, would be calling him for any reason. "S-Sorry Yamamoto-kun... I-I should r-really take this." Yamamoto just waved it off, saying that it was alright.

"M-Moshimoshi..." Tsuna tried to sound a bit shy and quiet so that Shoichi would get the message that he was with someone.

"_Ah Tsuna-kun... um... I just wanted to tell you that I found something, but if you're busy now, then I can wait till later."_ Shoichi responded.

"A-ah, gomen, I can't come... in today." Tsuna responded. "I do hope that y-you'll please c-cover for me." Tsuna smiled into his phone. Shoichi could picture the look that the brunette was carrying and just sighed.

"_If you can come over later, it's fine. But there's something that Spanner found that you really need to see."_ He responded.

"Hai, I understand. Thank you." Tsuna said politely before hanging up.

"Who was that Tsuna?" Yamamoto took the click of the button as a sign that he could start talking again.

"O-oh, j-just a... co-worker asking if I could come... in today." Tsuna somewhat lied.

"Ah I see. So you have job, that's pretty cool. I work in my dad's sushi shop sometimes."

"Wow, I didn't know that your family owned a restaurant."

"Yeah, you should come by some time." Yamamoto invited with a huge smile on his face. "Oh, I can see your house now." The boy put a hand over his eyes, blocking the sun to get a better view. Finally, after seeing that last smile, Tsuna couldn't hold in his frustration any more.

"Why do you smile like that?" He asked as he stood in front of Yamamoto, halting his movements. He looked at him sternly in the eyes with concern.

"What are you talking about? It's good to smile, though I'm still trying to convince Gokudera of that, haha." He laughed again. "Come on, you should try to." He said looking at the frown the brunette now had on.

"But your eyes aren't smiling at all. You know, it's even worse to smile without actually feeling like it." It was Tsuna's turn to smile this time. "If you don't mind talking to me about it, I'm willing to listen. But that's only if you want to, I won't force you." Tsuna felt satisfied that he got that out of his system.

"Heh, am I really that hopeless that the one that noticed my silent suffering was the person they call Dame in the school? Even though Katsu was the one that helped me down from the school roof, he still doesn't really understand, does he? But, I guess it's to be expected since I've only been friends with him for little over a week." The baseball ace still tried to laugh it off.

Now Tsuna sort of felt bad about his mentioning of it, but he knew that this was something the other boy needed to hear. "T-That's just the kind of guy Katsu is. He sort of does things without really knowing the whole situation, but he feels like it's better for him to not get totally involved in people's lives if it will only become troublesome for him in the long run. He also does things only if it will benefit him in some way or if he will be able to prevent trouble for himself in the future." Tsuna sighed, not really liking this talk of his brother. "I... I know it's hard to hear or it may be hard to accept this fact but that's how he is."

"So I'm assuming that you don't understand me either." Yamamoto started to lose his cheerfulness.

"No, I don't. But I won't unless you help me to understand. Even if I could just be of some use to help you vent out your thoughts. That would be good enough, ne?" Tsuna tried to show his compassion through his eyes, as if demonstrating to Yamamoto how to convey his emotions more thoroughly.

"Maa, if you're willing to play a little doctor Phil, then I wouldn't mind talking to you." Yamamoto decided to give it a shot. After all, it couldn't hurt to have someone to talk to; even if that someone was your best (could he call Katsu his best friend after hearing about him?) friend's twin brother.

Tsuna smiled at him again. "Would you like to come in? I'm sure that Katsu would be coming back home sooner than expected. And Okaa-san wouldn't mind having a friend over." When Tsuna had said the word friend, it unexpectedly made Yamamoto feel much lighter inside. "Alright." He agreed to the invitation.

As the two approached, they noticed a certain silverette stalking around the house perimeter. "Yo, Gokudera, whatcha doing here?" Yamamoto called out.

"Gah, Yakyuu-baka, why are you here with Juudaime's Pseudo Copy?!" This response had confirmed Tsuna's observation of this Vongola generation's difficulties in their relationships with one another. Nothing family like at all, unless you speculate that Gokudera's name calling and hostility was a form of affection.

"Since Katsu was busy, I thought it would be fun to hang out with Tsuna for a change." Yamamoto put an arm around the smaller boy's shoulders comfortably like it was only natural.

"W-Why don't you come in too, Gokudera-kun?" Tsuna invited him as well. It was only right of him to do so since this guy was going through the trouble of monitoring the perimeter of his house.

"I won't go anywhere with a Pseudo Copy." The silverette huffed and walked away.

"Maa, he's just being antisocial. I'm sure he really wants to come inside haha." Yamamoto joked again. The two boys just laughed with each other before walking up to the doorway.

"Okaa-san, tadaima." Tsuna called into the house.

"Tsu-kun!" Nana came rushing through the door. She sounded like she had been worrying about something all day.

"What's wrong, okaa-san?" Yamamoto was surprised that he picked up the woman's worry so quickly. He figured that that was how the brunette had found out of his fake smiles and such, because he was so observant and mindful of others. Yamamoto knew that he was much different than what others give him credit for.

"Have you seen Fuuta-kun? I haven't seen him at all today and Lambo-kun and Ipin-chan are starting to get worried." Nana said.

"Oi Dame-Tsuna, where's Fuuta hiding?" Lambo called out to him. _"I guess he thinks they're playing hide and seek." _Tsuna sweatdropped.

"I'm afraid that he might be stuck in a hiding place somewhere." Nana confessed.

"_So she thinks it's all a game too?"_ Tsuna sighed yet again.

"So you haven't seen him at all?" Tsuna suddenly remembered the boy's absence at the dinner table last night as well. Nana shook her head. "Well, we'll find him. Don't worry okaa-san. I'm sure that he might have gone to visit some friends of his in the city but forgot to mention it to us." He reassured.

"Oh, I see. Well then I guess it's alright." She cheered up. "You see Lambo-kun? Fuuta had just gone out for a little bit." She said to the five year old.

"We'll go looking for him, ah, if you don't mind Yamamoto-kun." Tsuna looked at the other.

"Of course I don't mind, we should make sure that the kid is safe after all."

"Okay, you boys be careful and come back in time for dinner." Nana called out.

"Hai, okaa-san." Tsuna replied before setting his bag down and leaving once again. Tsuna was hoping that this disappearance wasn't related to what he was thinking and hoped that Fuuta was really safe.

"_Please be safe..."_

**Aha finished!**  
**And I just wanted to give you a heads up**  
**I revamped my image of Katsu on deviantart here:**

** dark-*hazumi*.*deviantart*.*com/*art/KHR-*Sawada*- Twins-34*6579*723?q*=gallery%*3Adark*-hazumi*&qo=0**

**just remove the asterisks (*)as usual ;P**

**But if you don't want your image of Katsu possibly ruined,  
****then you should probably just ignore it (and it was done a really long while ago)  
****its just a simple sketch I did with him and tsuna together for once haha  
****thanks for reading!  
****Owari desu~~~**

Updated: 11/04/2013


	5. Target 4: A Sudden Assault

**Chiwassu~~~  
****Tadaima! I'm back with a new chapter for you guys~  
****Good News! I'm off school  
****So I will hopefully have more time to write chapters  
****Well, let's get on with this shall we?  
****I'll be moving on with the plot now so be excited haha**

**Disclaimer: If I owned KHR, then I would elaborate more on Hibari's past… Seriously Amano-san, I wanna know how he got that way!**

* * *

Target 4: A Sudden Assault

Tsuna and Yamamoto have both been searching around for a long while now but there was no sign of Fuuta. It was getting pretty late and Tsuna didn't know what to do. He was supposed to be a master at obtaining things but if he didn't know where the thing he was looking for was, then his skills as a phantom thief were useless. The brunette sighed as he and the baseball ace sat on the bench.

"Ne Yamamoto-kun, wouldn't your dad be getting worried about you by now?" Tsuna asked the boy.

"Yeah, it's pretty dark now isn't it?" Yamamoto realized, noticing that the only light was coming from the street lights and the moon. "But I want to help you find the kid. He does some awesome magic tricks." Tsuna sweatdropped. _"Has no one told him what he was involved in?" _The brunette was getting worried about Yamamoto as he seemed clueless to what Reborn had dragged him in.

"I guess I never really saw Fuuta's 'magic tricks'." Tsuna responded. Truth was that he was avoiding making any unnecessary contact with the ranking boy for many reasons. "But I'm sure he's alright... so you should head home. I'm sorry that you couldn't meet Katsu." The brunette smiled apologetically.

"I think you should be apologizing for not hanging out much haha." Yamamoto laughed. "But if you say that the kid's alright, then..." "GAAHHHHHHHHH!" A sudden outburst had interrupted the two. After exchanging a quick glance, the two ran off and tried to find the source of the blood curdling scream. Running down the street and turning a few corners, they found a few beaten bodies littered on the ground. The two boys ran up to them and realized that they were students from their school; however, they weren't just students, they were part of the disciplinary committee.

"A-Ano, pl-please get a hold of yourselves." Tsuna gently shook one of the members after asking Yamamoto to call an ambulance for them.

"How are they?" Yamamoto knelt down beside Tsuna.

"I'm sure they'll be fine." He answered uncertainly, but he did know that they weren't in a life threatening condition. They just wouldn't be able to perform any disciplinary duties for a while. "M-Maybe we should contact Hibari-san." Tsuna suggested.

"Pl-Please... list...en" one of the boys grabbed Tsuna's arm and looked at him with a half opened eye.

"Hai?" Tsuna urged for him to go on.

"C-Cul..prit...Y-Yoyo..." He murmured. "Ne-need...les..." He continued.

"Did they get attacked by kids?" Yamamoto tried to speculate.

"I don't think so Yamamoto-kun." Tsuna doubted since there were also scratch marks that seemed to have come from some wild animal.

"F-Fan...gs" Then the boy passed out in the baseball ace's arms. The brunette had secretly pulled out a hidden camera that was placed within a phone accessory that dangled from his pocket. He sneakily took a few pictures of the incident so that he could show Shoichi and Spanner later, in case this was related to the rumor that they'd heard. Just then, the ambulance had come in and the paramedics told the two boys that they'd handle it from there.

They nodded and started to back off but as Tsuna motioned to get up, he noticed something glistening in the light and moved to get a closer look. He then found a golden pocket watch with a sort of wedge placed to prevent the hands from moving. He grabbed and placed it in his pocket before giving the medics space.

"May we get your statements?" One of the woman came over and questioned them. They then explained that they just happened to hear someone scream and came running to find these guys already lying here with no one fleeing the scene being seen by either of them.

"Do you know these boys?" She asked her last question.

"Well, we don't know them personally, but they go to our school, Namimori Middle School." Tsuna answered. She then thanked them and told them not to worry as they will contact the boys' families to let them know. The ambulances then drove off, each following another, leaving the boys.

"That was interesting." Yamamoto wiped his forehead with a satisfied sigh.

"It was not, that was dangerous and, and..." The baseball ace wrapped an arm around Tsuna's shoulders in order to calm the other down.

"Maa, maa, I'm sure it was just someone playing a game."

"_What kind of game are you thinking?"_ Tsuna paled at the thought. Yamamoto then said his goodbye as he ran home. Tsuna just waved and thanked him for his help with Fuuta. When the other was out of sight, Tsuna pulled out his phone and called his mom to tell her that he'd be staying out a bit longer and that they could eat without him. She didn't seem very happy about that but she had let it go as she wanted her sons to have their freedom and to live their lives to the fullest.

With his explanations done, he called Shoichi and told him that he was finally coming over.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Tsuna-kun, you finally came." Shoichi sounded extremely relieved when he opened the door. "We have something important to show you." He whispered as he dragged him to his room.

"And I have something to tell and show you as well. Something happened while I was looking for Fuuta with Yamamoto-kun just now." Tsuna informed.

"You were with Yamamoto? The baseball ace?" The redhead was shocked upon hearing that. "I thought he hung out with your brother?"

"Katsu wasn't around, so he thought it was a good chance to spend quality time with his best friend's twin." Tsuna shrugged. "But that's not what I wanted to tell you." He said as the two boys walked into the bedroom where Spanner was waiting.

"Took you long enough, Kaitou." The blond said towards the brunette.

"I still don't think you should call me that in public Spanner." He warned and sat down on the bed while the blond wheeled his chair closer towards the other two. "But never mind that, you should get a look at these pictures and this pocket watch that I picked up." Tsuna took out both items from his pockets. He gave the phone to Shoichi so that he could download the images and then opened up the pocket watch. He showed it to them and it revealed the two hands pointing at twelve.

"I'm not sure what this means but it has to mean something if these people don't want others messing with the hands." The phantom thief explained. He then commenced on explaining what had happened since he had arrived home with Yamamoto, about Fuuta, the search, the scream and the disciplinary committee members. They then took a glance at the pictures he took.

"And the one that woke up said something about yoyos, needles and fangs, whatever that means." Tsuna sighed.

"My, if Hibari hears about this, I'm not sure what he'll do." Shoichi could feel a stomach ache coming on from just thinking about it.

"You know Kaitou, this might be related to what we wanted to show you earlier today." Spanner told him as he pushed Shoichi out of the way of the computer. He clicked a few things and up popped a school photo.

"What does that have to do with...?" Tsuna paused as he caught glance of a familiar mess of indigo hair. "Wha- Is that?"

"Sou da, it's Rokudo Mukuro." Spanner answered.

"He's attending a middle school? That sounds highly unlikely." Tsuna looked at the photo skeptically. "What would run away criminals want in a middle school?"

"It's probably to disguise themselves, so that they could blend in better while they're in hiding." Shoichi said.

"Right, and we still don't know what he's after. So this is what you wanted to show me earlier?" The brunette asked.

"That's right." Shoichi smiled sheepishly. "And it's getting late, you should head back."

"One last thing, has there been anything on Byakuran?"

"Not since your last encounter." Spanner answered this time. Tsuna then paused, thinking for a moment. "Kaitou, I'm sure Rokudo isn't aware of these artifacts or what's contained inside them. But just be on the lookout for anything else out of the ordinary. Send whatever you find to us and we'll look it up." The blond reassured.

"Yeah, that's what we're here for." Shoichi agreed.

Tsuna sighed with a smile. "You got it, I'll tell you immediately if something's up."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

The next few days had been really hectic at Nami-chuu as there was a rumor going around that someone was taking revenge on the disciplinary committee. Since the first incident that he and Yamamoto had somewhat witnessed 2 days ago, there had been more people that had gone down and not all of them had been from the disciplinary committee solely. Mainly, it had been fighters from martial arts club and some guys on sports clubs.

And during all of this time, there was still no sign of Fuuta but that didn't mean that Tsuna gave up on looking for him. He just managed to keep his mom off of his trail, though Reborn was another story. The infant was also aware that Fuuta was missing and instructed his brother to try and find the boy. Tsuna 'just so happened to have overheard' and asked if he could help too; though the pair still didn't reveal to him that Fuuta was a special child, not that Tsuna cared. The less they shared with him, the better. He also kept his two scientist friends updated on whatever he found.

"What's happening around here?" Some of the girls were talking behind Tsuna in the classroom.

"I heard that a lot of people aren't coming to school for a while."

"I know I didn't want to." They continued.

"This is all just nonsense." Tsuna then turned his head and saw his twin walk in with Gokudera and Yamamoto.

"Don't worry Juudaime, I shall protect you even if it costs my life." The silverette announced. Tsuna didn't like the sound of that statement. Sure protecting your friends is important but throwing your life away doesn't help them in the slightest, and it doesn't make anyone happy about it either.

"Maa, you shouldn't say it in that way Gokudera. Life is important, you should enjoy it while you're still young." Yamamoto voiced his thoughts for him. Tsuna smiled gratefully to himself and looked out the window to see just a handful of students entering the courtyard.

"I guess people are really shaken up." The brunette said to himself.

"Well it's not like you have anything to worry about, people call you Dame-Tsuna so no one's going to go after you." A boy said beside him. It was one of the quiet kids who never out right teased him about not being able to do things but just stood around and played along. Tsuna couldn't blame him though. It wasn't easy fitting in and by doing what everyone else was easily got you a pass to being of average status in the school.

"S-Sou da ne?" Tsuna smiled slightly towards his classmate. Just then, there was a loud boom coming from one of the neighborhoods, though no one seemed to have heard it. The brunette panicked a bit but quietly made his way out the door, slipping away before anyone could notice and was also being very wary of a spying infant. He then ran out of school grounds and tried to remember the direction of the boom. As he ran a few blocks, he spied an ambulance and ran towards it.

He pushed through the people and walked towards the scene until he was halted by one of the personnel. "You shouldn't be here. It's dangerous." He said.

"But he's my friend." Tsuna pointed towards the vehicle without even knowing who was in it.

"Oh, well then we'll bring you along but contact your parents when you get there." Tsuna nodded in understanding, bluffing his way through the conversation. "And we found this beside him, you hang on to it." The man handed him a pocket watch similar to the same one he found two days ago. Before looking at it, he was led into the back of the ambulance and saw the person in the gurney.

"_Ah, Kyoko-chan's onii-chan."_ Tsuna thought to himself but before speaking out, he remembered that he said that he knew who he was before.

"S-Sasagawa-sempai, you'll be alright." He mumbled.

After arriving at the hospital, he was asked to wait in the waiting room while Tsuna gave the name of the patient so that they could contact his parents. He was lucky that he actually knew the person in the ambulance but at the same time, he wished that he didn't. But now that he looked around, there were a lot of Nami-chuu students hanging about.

"Hey Dame-Tsuna, you're here too?" Someone called out to him.

"Uh, yeah, I was nearby when Sasagawa-sempai was getting into the ambulance." He told the other.

"Gahh, not Ryohei-san too." The boy whined.

"Why? Is someone that Sasabe-kun knows here too?"

"Everyone here is with someone that they know." Sasabe said matter of factly. "But yeah, Mochida-san was just attacked early this morning on his way to the morning kendo practice."

"Hah?! The same Mochida-sempai that Katsu fought against?"

"Yeah that's right." Sasabe pointed towards the room. "I was told that they found some watch left at the time of seven o'clock. It's freaky dude." There was suddenly a rush of murmuring as the two boys turned down the hall to see two people from the disciplinary committee walking down the hall towards them. Sasabe pushed Tsuna's head down as they two boys walked by. "That was Kusakabe-san, the vice president of the Committee. Did you hear what they said? Hibari is going after that gang that's doing all of this!"

"B-But it isn't safe, even for Hibari-san." Tsuna murmured.

"What are you saying?! It's Hibari, who else would be able to take care of it?" The boy questioned. _"The local police?"_ The brunette thought sarcastically. _"Though Nakajima-keibu is a little clumsy..."_ Tsuna inwardly smiled at the thought.

"Oi, Dame Otouto," Tsuna heard and it only meant it could be one person. "where's Sasagawa?" Katsu asked as he walked up to him. (A/N: 'dame otouto' means 'no good little brother')

"He's in there but he's still getting treated." He informed his brother.

"I see, then it was a waste to walk all the way down here." Katsu said with an annoyed look in his eyes.

"_Then why'd you come all the way down here?"_ Tsuna sweatdropped and tilted his head in confusion.

"I told him to take care of his family." Reborn jumped onto Tsuna's head and answered his question.

"Sou ka, so Katsu's friends are all like family now, are they?" Tsuna continued playing his role as the oblivious one to the mafia, much like his mother.

"Like I said, that's not it!" Katsu grumbled. Sasabe just watched the encounter in utter confusion. Anyone could plainly see that the two twins were almost complete polar opposites of each other. Tsuna was laughing at his brother's stubbornness but his smile dropped when some came running into the building with a panicked expression.

"HEELLLPPP! I NEED HELP!" The boy called from the front entrance. Many people rushed out with a gurney and a few moments later, Kusakabe was rolled in. Now the room was in panic, saying that he was attacked the moment that he walked out.

"Didn't those guys say that Hibari went off to take care of those guys?" Katsu sounded unimpressed. "Don't tell me that he got done in by them too."

"What are you saying, Katsu?" Tsuna sounded panicked as well but he stopped talking when he felt Reborn jumped off his head and landed on Kusakabe's gurney where a pocket watch had lain. The nurses told him to get off so that they could wheel Kusakabe off into an examining room; he did get off after a moment on his own accord and not because they told him to. He then walked back towards the twins and sat on Tsuna's shoulder.

"What's that Reborn?" Tsuna asked, knowing exactly what it was but didn't know what it meant. The infant then opened it and plopped it down in his hand. Tsuna looked at it and saw it read five o'clock.

"It's just a broken watch, it means nothing." Katsu said leaning on the wall behind him.

"Ba-Katsu, everything has a meaning to it. Tsuna, take out the pocket watch from Ryohei." The brunette did just that and took it out. He opened it and widened his eyes as it read six o'clock. "Recognize something?" Reborn questioned him. Tsuna was a bit shocked at the question but figured that he could at least tell the infant this since it didn't have anything to do with the mafia or his secret side job.

"E-Eto, it's just that Sasabe-kun told me that Mochida-sempai had a watch that said 7 o'clock and now Sasagawa-sempai's is 6 and Kusakabe-san's 5."

"So what? GAHH!" Katsu commented again. Reborn threw a hammer shaped Leon at the boy's head.

"Ba-Katsu, what did I say about things having a meaning. This is a countdown." Reborn said ominously.

"C-Countdown? For what?" Tsuna questioned.

"They're calling you out." The infant directed the statement to the uncaring twin.

"What have you done Katsu? Are you doing something dangerous?" Tsuna hated acting this way but it was necessary to keep up appearances.

"It doesn't concern you!" The golden haired boy snapped. But before he could go on, they were called for Ryohei's condition. The three walk over and are told that he is alright now but he'd have to be hospitalized for the rest of the week. They nodded in understanding and said that they'd inform his family when they got here. They were then let in to see him.

"Ah, Sawada and... whoa, there's two Sawadas! That's EXTREMELY awesome! Now there can be two Sawadas in the boxing club!"

"I'm not here to join your boxing club!" Katsu twitched, crossing his arms.

"He's Ba-Katsu's twin brother, Dame-Tsuna." Reborn didn't like how the younger twin smiled at the name.

"But seriously speaking Sasagawa-sempai, how are you?" Tsuna said concerned.

"Aha, I'm alright second Sawada but if you guys don't mind, would you keep all of this from Kyoko? I haven't exactly told her that I was attacked. It's because she worries a bit too much up to the point that I told her that boxing is only men in their underwear with oven mitts. " Ryohei said sheepishly. Tsuna sweatdropped at that, then that might explain why she didn't react as much when Katsu had sudden run up to her in his underwear.

"So you told her something?" Katsu looked at him suspiciously as if expecting a ridicules answer. Tsuna was a bit confused as he didn't really know his sempai like his older twin brother did, but he didn't dwell much on that.

"Yeah, but the doctor told my parents the truth." He sighed.

"So who were the culprits?" Reborn asked, changing the subject and bounced onto the bed to get a better look at the white haired boy.

"They were middle schoolers from Kokuyo-chuu from the next town over. What a shame! I let my guard down when I tried to recruit them into the boxing club!" He exclaimed in defeat. "Man, I want that man's punch in my club!"

"Is he for real? Boxing at a time like this." Katsu scoffed to himself. Just then, the door opened up and Kyoko came in. "Oh, here it comes..." Katsu partly said to himself.

"Onii-chan! Why would you climb the bathhouse's chimney?" Kyoko said as she ran in. Tsuna and Katsu both sweatdropped. The younger twin looked at the older as if asking if this was really for real. He just nodded, his expression not changing from his 'are you crazy?' annoyed expression.

"Is it really just a sprain?" Kyoko asked worriedly, checking her brother's condition.

"Yeah, it is. Nothing to worry about to the EXTREME!" Ryohei exclaimed. "It's just a really bad sprain is all."

"_Usotsuki!" _The twins thought in unison. _"There has to be a limit to how much she can believe..."_ Tsuna sighed in disbelief.

"But I'm really glad... that Onii-chan is alive." Kyoko started to tear up.

"Oi, oi, I told you not to cry Kyoko." Ryohei said to her.

Kyoko just shook her head and then turned towards the boys. "You all came because you were worried, arigato Katsu-kun, Reborn-kun, Tsuna-kun." They just nodded to her before leaving her alone with her brother.

"Haa, that took a lot of energy." Tsuna tried to laugh it off. "But Sasagawa-sempai is a really bad liar isn't he?" The brunette looked towards the other two and felt a sense that they didn't want him around for what they were about to talk about. It didn't matter since he could pretty much guess the rest of it, and it just made it better for him since he needed to inform Shoichi of the watches' meaning. "Saa, I'll be heading to school first, Katsu. Bye Reborn." Tsuna waved and ran off.

Once he was gone, Reborn leapt up to Katsu's head and rested there. "No one said you can get a free ride. I'm not a pushover like my brother is." Katsu said to his tutor.

"Don't complain, I should be the one to since your brother's head is softer and more comfortable than yours." Reborn retorted.

"You saying I'm hard headed?" Katsu gritted his teeth.

"At least that got through your thick skull." The hitman smirked. "But enough talk, you know what this means right?"

"They're targeting strong people from our school right?" Katsu shrugged as he walked out of the hospital.

"Not only are they targeting strong people, they're targeting them in order." Reborn corrected.

"Wait, does this have something to do with the kid's disappearance?" The golden haired boy froze for a moment.

"Remember that last ranking that I asked him about?" The infant crossed his arms, not that the boy could see him. Katsu then took off his bag and rustled through the sheets and notebooks until he found it: the piece of paper that he scribbled on. He hadn't really paid much attention when he was writing down the facts and didn't really look at it, but now that it mattered, he was lucky that he threw it in with his homework.

"The attacks are going by the names on this list? But there are a whole bunch of random people just getting attacked." Katsu looked up towards his tutor.

"They're probably just haphazardly trying to find who's who on this list. But there's something that's worrying me."

"What's that?"

"The only ones who should know of Fuuta's rankings are those involved in the mafia. No one outside should know of it because of the omerta."

"Omerta?" Katsu raised an eyebrow.

"Must I explain everything to you?"

"You're my tutor." Katsu said matter of factly.

"Don't get sassy."

"Why don't you stop first?" Reborn just let the subject and that last comment slide for once instead of punishing his student, since this was a matter that required immediate attention. Someone outside of mafia was attacking innocent students using the rankings of a young mafiaso. This was something that he couldn't leave alone. But at the same time, he couldn't get involved in matters personally. So the only option he had was to bring this up to the Nono.

"Okay, so first things first, we need to help the remaining students on that list. They're threatening you so it's your duty to help." The infant instructed.

"Yeah, yeah, just give me a sec. So if Kusakabe was number 5, the next is... you've got to be kidding me." Katsu frowned deeply at the next name.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So that's the gist of what I pieced together." Tsuna said into his phone as he stood on the roof of the hospital. He just explained his theory from Reborn's countdown speculation and that it was to threaten his brother. Also, with Fuuta missing at the same time as these attacks started occurring, it wasn't impossible that these people had used Fuuta to rank the strongest of Nami-chuu.

"_This also happened at the same time that we found out Rokudo Mukuro was in town."_ Shoichi said.

"That's a big possibility too. And from the looks of it..." Tsuna paused as he looked down at Katsu and Reborn who stood in front of the hospital. "Reborn and Katsu figured it out too. Katsu just took a piece of paper with a ranking on it, I'm sure. But it doesn't seem like Reborn knows about Mukuro."

"_I wonder why? I thought for sure that the Vongola Nono would have informed him."_ Shoichi was now a bit confused.

"Jii-chan must have his reasons."

"_You know, I still find it strange that you're the grandson of the Vongola Nono and brother of the Decimo to be but neither is aware of what you secretly do."_

"He's not blood related, Jii-chan I mean. And Fon didn't know at the time when he recruited me to help him collect the art pieces." Tsuna reminded. "Guess he thought it was meant to be haha." He joked.

"_Yes but Fon-san should at least have told your grandfather that you're the one who's working as the Phantom Thief to help Vongola obtain the ever important Dying Will Flames of Kaneko Takumi."_ Shoichi blurted out.

"When I found out that Vongola was the famiglia that asked Fon to help obtain the Dying Will Flames, I asked Fon to keep it from Jii-chan so as to avoid any sort of complication." Tsuna justified.

"_But isn't hiding your identity from a mafia famiglia even more complicated?"_ Shoichi continued to argue.

"Are you going to argue about this again, Shoichi?" Tsuna sighed into the phone.

"_But it'd be better if you got to be the Vongola Decimo."_ Shoichi whined.

"_I second that Kaitou."_ Spanner said in the background.

"And why do you think that?" Tsuna sighed again.

"_You know, it's sort of unfair that you aren't getting recognized for your help. We are pretty known because of Verde and the others but you aren't. It doesn't seem right since you do most of the dangerous work." _Explained the redhead.

"I don't mind not being recognized and I don't want to be the Decimo anyways. It'd be too conflicting with my duties and my brother's already been chosen. Plus I wouldn't be able to move around as freely with Reborn on my back twenty four seven." Tsuna argued again and looked down at his brother and the world's greatest hitman. He watched as Katsu started to run out of the hospital's courtyard.

"_I guess that's true too."_ Shoichi finally gave in.

"Now, back to the main situation, my brother and Reborn just ran out of the hospital courtyard. With the ranking list, I guess they're going to help out whoever's next since that's the only thing they can do at the moment. Do you guys think you can make a makeshift list based on the ones previously attacked?"

"_That's easy, I could do it based on my knowledge of the people that we've talked about recently."_ Spanner gloated.

"_Then do it."_ Shoichi told him.

"_If I'm right, by looking at their stats, Gokudera Hayato would be fourth, Yamamoto Takeshi third, Sawada Katsuro second _(Tsuna sighed with relief after he heard his brother's name and not his)_ and first, I'm sure you can guess."_ He finished.

"_Ah..." _Shoichi suddenly said in surprise and caught Tsuna's attention.

"What? Did you find something else out?" The brunette asked eagerly.

"_A fax just came in." _Spanner answered. Tsuna guessed that Shoichi was currently reading what was written.

"_Wow, your sensei really has good timing and we were just talking about him too." _Shoichi told Tsuna.

"From Fon? What did he say?" Tsuna was curious as Fon had rarely sent them a message unless it was about a lead on their mission, a notice of him visiting or a message from the Vongola, specifically the Nono.

Shoichi started to read.

"_Good Afternoon Tsuna, Shoichi-kun, Spanner-kun, _

_I know this is a short notice message but there's a request from the Vongola Nono. He has requested the aid of Kaitou Cache to help catch a notorious escapee from Vendicare Prision and his followers: Rokudo Mukuro. There's a rumor that he is hiding out in Japan and he wishes that you go and stop him on behalf of Vongola. He realizes that it's a big task but it may be too much to ask of the in training Decimo, so he's turned to you. I've been giving him updates on your progress so there's no surprise that he is impressed with your skills. _

_I do hope you are willing to aid our benefactor, aka your grandfather Tsuna, after all of the support that he's provided for our heists. Please tell us if you shall refuse or accept this task by the end of the hour and if you do accept this request, the mission is to capture him and turn him over to the Vindice as they come to pick him up._

_I bid you good luck on this assignment,  
__Fon."_

Shoichi finished reading. _"The end of the hour is in 5 minutes..."_ Spanner commented.

"I like how he only told us what would happen if I accepted but not when I refused." Tsuna sighed for the umpteenth time during their whole conversation. "And telling me that it's Jii-chan asking on top of that, it's dirty using guilt to get someone to accept." Tsuna felt a vein in his forehead throb.

"_At least we know why Reborn-san hasn't been informed of Rokudo Mukuro's involvement yet." _Shoichi said.

"_And you can finally appeal to your grandfather when you complete this task."_ Spanner added.

"They aren't leaving me much of a choice now are they?" Tsuna looked towards the sky. "Now my mood for this beautiful day is ruined by the appearance of a new mission." The brunette murmured into the phone, implying his acceptance.

**Yosh another chapter done  
****And a long one I may add lol ^^  
****Hehe and a lot was put into this chapter  
****Sorry for the information overload… again  
****I'll explain the backstory of why Fon needed someone to help him get the art works:**

Okay so let's say that the curse happened about 20 years ago...

About a half a year before the curse, Fon had been asked by the Vongola Family to assist them in looking for the artworks of Kaneko Takumi as they are too busy to make it a priority for themselves. Fon agrees and has then taken on the role of a Phantom Thief to fulfill the request. However, the Fated Day had suddenly occurred and prevented Fon from continuing this mission fully.

He did try to fulfill this mission on his own for the first decade and a half, but with the sudden appearance of Byakuran, he then tried to find someone who was able to take his place as the Phantom Thief. After a few years of looking for a good candidate around the world, that person ended up being Tsuna for reasons that I will explain in the future.

**That's the gist of it…  
****If there's something you want to know about, please ask  
****And I'll do my best to answer  
****Anything unclear, please tell me and I'll try to fix it right away  
****Thanks for reading along  
****Owari Desu~**

Update: 23/04/2013


	6. Target 5: A Plan of Attack

**Chiwassu~~  
****I'm ubber happy with your guyses reviews (~^ w^)~  
****Just saying haha… and it totally made my day reading them  
****You guys are really nice and super uplifting  
****I feel like I'm getting my mojo back lol  
****And about the recent update thing  
****I'm super sorry about that, I uploaded a new chapter to the wrong story  
****I got used to clicking on this story and... yeah, sorry (_ _")**

And to Animestar411: please refer to chapter 3 about night flames

**Alright, so here it is, the next chapter ^^  
****Saa, let's start**

**Disclaimer: I wish, like many people, that I owned KHR… but unfortunately for me, I don't… it's called reality the dream crusher haha**

* * *

Target 5: A Plan of Attack

Katsu ran through the streets of neighborhoods and tried to find the quickest way back to school, but there were just too many streets and alleys to be sure of finding a decent shortcut that would save the most time. It was then that he heard two girls who were walking by, talking about a Nami-chuu student that was in the shopping district causing a ruckus with another student that they guessed was some school out of the district. They hadn't really gotten a good look since they ran away from the scene, not wanting to get caught up in anything. And after catching a glance of his uniform, they moved to avoid him as well, not that he cared about them anyways.

It wasn't much of a lead but the boy figured that it was better than nothing and turned around to head back to the main road, which connected to the shopping district. However, as soon as he turned around, he collided with a brunette which forced him to be delayed even further. When he looked down towards the girl, he immediately recognized her and frowned.

"What, it's the stalker girl." Katsu sighed irritably. The girl's ears perked at this and she stood up immediately and frowned at him.

"Haru isn't a stalker desu!" She yelled. "And to think I was worried for you and was going to protect you desu!" She then looked towards the two kids at her feet. "Ipin-chan, Lambo-kun, let's go. Maybe we can find Tsuna-san and protect him instead since he's much politer and kinder." The dark brunette huffed.

"Tsuna-san kind." Ipin echoed after Haru.

"Lambo-san will find Dame-Tsuna first! Gyahahaha!" The infant exclaimed with both hands holding pink grenades.

"You guys are more dangerous than the attackers." Katsu murmured to himself.

"What was that?!" Haru looked at him with a crossed face, her hands on her hips.

"Nandemonai." He walked past her casually. _"Definitely more dangerous." _Katsu frowned.

"Saa let's go find Tsuna-san!" Haru exclaimed, punching the air. She led the two infants who agreed and they started to walk off until the girl suddenly tripped on air. "Itai desu~" she whined as she picked herself up.

"_And definitely more troublesome."_ Katsu then got back into focus, continuing on his mission and ran towards the shopping district once again, that is, until Reborn thwomped him to the ground as he jumped from a tree branch and landed on the golden haired boy's head. "Reborn..." Katsu gritted his teeth and held a shaking fist.

"No matter their personality, a boss must always think of the wellbeing of their subordinates." He lectured as he nestled in his student's hair. "Still not as soft." He complained.

"Then don't sit on my head and complain about it. Are you trying to pick a fight?" Katsu growled as he stood up rubbing the back of his aching head.

"You should get going." Reborn said, ignoring the boy's question. "There's no telling what state the city will be in by the time you get there. If it's in ruins, you're cleaning it up."

"You're the one that stopped me in the first place! So don't go punishing people that you sabotage." Katsu argued and started to run off once again.

"But it wouldn't be any fun that way." Reborn pouted like a child, mocking the boy. Katsu just twitched at the sadisticness.

"You're an evil, devil child of a tutor." The boy characterized his tutor.

"Well, you don't get called the World's Greatest Hitman by being a normal goody two shoes, now do you? And if you have time to complain, train more until you can dodge my kicks. Only then will I stop torturing you."

"Like h*ll you will." Katsu spat as he ran across a street and through the entrance of the shopping mall.

"Looks like your finally catching on and learning something." The infant taunted.

"Shut up." Was all Katsu had to retort with. "Quick question though..." The boy started to walk a bit so as to focus on his wording.

"Make it count." Reborn told his student.

"Earlier you said that because of that omerta thing, no one should know about Fuuta's rankings, so that means that this person's mafia then?" He looked up to try and get a glimpse of the baby hitman.

"Of course, it's common sense Ba-Katsu! No sane person would go out of their way to mess with some middle schoolers just to get the attention of a future mafia boss who can easily pulverize them..." Katsu just raised an eyebrow at that entire statement and wondered how that could even be considered as common sense since no sane human being would ever think of messing with any mafia, or gang or yakuza for that matter, period; let alone thinking you can get the attention of a mafia by beating up some middle schoolers. This also led him to thinking that Reborn just classified people in the mafia as insane people, which he totally sees..., from experience.

"_He's basically saying that 'a sane person' would use a 'smarter method' to get the attention of a mafia boss, not that I would consider anyone who wants to get the attention of a "mafia boss who can easily pulverize them" as 'smart' or even 'sane' in the first place."_ Katsu, rolling his eyes, thought skeptically. Reborn then whacked the heel of his foot into the boy's head suddenly out of the blue.

"ITTE! Reborn, what was that for?!" Katsu yelled out, getting the attention of a few people in the area.

"I bet you were just thinking of some smart*ss remark in that stupid brain of yours." The infant said knowingly.

"You know this counts as physical and verbal abuse towards your student." The golden haired boy grumbled.

"Can't report an infant to the police, now can you? And you can't go around reporting that you were physically or verbally abused by a _hitman,_ the _world's greatest_ no less." Reborn smirked.

"Cche..." was the only response the infant got back before he continued on with his previous explanation. "So as I was saying, normally, if a famiglia really was targeting you, they would've just shot you down right in front of your face instead of using such a roundabout method." Reborn explained bluntly.

"Gee, good to know." Katsu twitched at the last sentence. "But then that would mean that they have some big reason for doing this." He speculated.

Reborn nodded. "Yes but as I said, a true mafiaso wouldn't target you in such a roundabout way without a good reason. If they really wanted to get your attention for any reason at all, they'd target something more dear to you rather than just a bunch of strong kids from your school. But seriously speaking, I wonder why they would want to deal with an annoying brat like you to begin with."

Katsu felt his forehead vein pulsing. "You're one to talk Mr. World's Greatest Hitman who's barely a foot tall." He insulted on impulse.

"You got a death wish, Ba-Katsu?" An evil glint shone in Reborn's eye, the boy obviously striking a nerve. Katsu immediately felt a shiver run down his spine before he, as humbly as he could, forced an apology. "Just get going and find their next target. If you don't hurry, it'll become much more troublesome in the future." The infant said as he jumped off the boy's head and started to walk off somewhere else.

"Where are you going?" Katsu paused, waiting for a response.

"I'm going to make a call."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Gokudera yawned as he was walking down a busy street. He had left class early as there was no one there but more importantly, his Juudaime wasn't there. When Reborn had ordered for Katsu to go check on Ryohei at the hospital, Gokudera immediately offered to accompany them but he was rejected and told to stay at school. However, in the end, he just decided against being, let alone going to school if his boss wasn't going to be there either. So the silverette just picked up and left the class despite the teacher's refusal.

"If I follow to the hospital, I wonder if Juudaime will be angry with me." He pondered to himself as he turned down into the shopping district area.

"You'll never know how that person will act until you actually go to the hospital, or better yet, why not get admitted while you're at it. I'm sure it won't be lonely as you'll know many people there." A monotonous voice said to him. Gokudera looked from the corner of his eye and spotted someone just standing there, facing him.

"Who the h*ll are you?" Gokudera turned to face the boy. Now getting a better look at the other, he was wearing a green uniform with a white beanie on his head and had a barcode printed on his left cheek. He stood with a slight slouch and carried some round object in his left hand while the other was in his pocket. The boy tilted his head to look at the silverette but the other couldn't see his eyes as the glasses he wore reflected the sunlight, preventing Gokudera from reading his expression.

"Namimori Middle School Class 1-A's Roll Sheet Number 8: Gokudera Hayato. Am I right?" The boy asked, ignoring the silverette's previous question.

Gokudera carried a scowl on his face. "...like I asked, who the h*ll are you?" The silverette likewise ignored the other's statement and repeated his question, his eyes narrowing in annoyance but remained wary of the other.

"Kokuyo Middle School's first year, Kakimoto Chikusa. I came here to break you." He responded.

"Why must I be bothered by jerks from other schools? Fine, if you really need to fight it out, have at it but I won't go easy on you. I'll be fighting you my way." He grinned tauntingly. Just then, a few people passed by and a couple of guys stood by, deciding to watch the fight unfold.

"Onlookers are a pain. If you have free time, spend it on watching someone else." Chikusa suddenly lifted his arm and the two boys were struck with many needles in their shoulders. They cried out as they fell backwards, panicking from the attack. Gokudera just looked at them, stunned and was surprised that the guy just attacked innocent civilians. It was then that he decided to hightail it out of the area to get away from the public but the guy had followed swiftly and took out what the silverette now recognized as yoyos. Chikusa threw them and whipped them towards Gokudera, who hid behind a wide sign, effectively attacking him with the needles that shot out of them.

"_This guy's no joke. He isn't just some regular middle schooler, this guy's a professional hitman." _He came to the conclusion. Suddenly, a thought flashed across Gokudera's mind. "Are you looking for Juudaime? What family are you from?" The silverette asked as he knelt on the pavement.

"Finally, we've got a hit." Chikusa murmured to himself and positioned himself into a stance before continuing his attack.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So has Fon replied back yet about details of our first move, you guys?" Tsuna asked, leaning his back on the fence that guarded the ledge of the hospital roof.

"_About that..." _Shoichi sighed at the message that had just arrived. _"All he said was good luck."_

"That means that they have no idea where he is, or what he wants for that matter." Tsuna felt his eye start to twitch. "It's a good thing we did a little digging ourselves before." The brunette tried to look on the bright side.

"_Ah, that reminds me..." _Spanner took hold of the phone. _"when he entered Kokuyo, Rokudo took control of the entire delinquent population."_

"Everyone?" Tsuna raised an eyebrow at that.

"_Yes and there's a place that they frequent often."_ Spanner said, searching the place up on his computer so that he could send it to Tsuna.

"_Is that the old abandoned theme park?"_ Shoichi was heard in the background.

"You mean they're hiding out in the rundown Kokuyo Land?" The brunette remembered the place. It used to be very popular until they were forced to shut down for reasons unknown to the public.

"_It seems like the most logical place to look at."_ The blond said. _"And it's not like we have much time on our hands. And if they're really targeting your twin, at the rate that they're going, they'll knock out every person at Nami-chuu until they find him."_

"_And I'm a little worried about Fuuta-kun's state of mind right now." _Shoichi took the phone back. _"If he's really being held captive by these dangerous people, there's no telling what effect it will have on the kid's psychological state."_

"Plus Hibari-san is over there and hadn't come back." Tsuna added. "These are also direct orders from the kyuudaime himself, so we should handle this as soon as possible. It's already gone on too long and they've gone too far."

"_Wait, hold on a minute, Tsuna-kun." _Shoichi paused. _"I do agree that this should be handled as quickly as possible but these guys are dangerous and I'm sure there's many people guarding the place and you won't have any backup or help or..."_

"Shoichi." Tsuna cut him off. "What do I do every single time we get a lead on an artwork?" The redhead couldn't answer that since the answer was pretty obvious. "On each mission, we deal with media cameras, dozens of armed policemen and a mafia famiglia that has the power to wipe out the entire police force and yet you're worrying over a few teens that got kicked out of the mafia."

"_It's because they got kicked out of the mafia that I'm worried." _Shoichi almost yelled out loud until he remembered that his mom and sister were still home.

"_Then let's deal with the hostage first. Once we rescue Fuuta, that'll be one less disadvantage for us." _Spanner proposed but then got an idea. _"And we could also use this opportunity to monitor you using Night Flames."_ The blond suggested, deciding that this would be a good time to kill two birds with one stone.

"_That'd be too dangerous, Spanner." _Shoichi argued.

"Well, it might not be too bad. It'd be a good simulation and also a good time for me to test out how long I could use them for." Tsuna reasoned.

"_But you told us that it was a strain on your body and that if you used it for too long, your body wouldn't respond properly."_ The redhead was still unsure.

"That was during training; when on the battlefield, your mindset is completely different and your determination and desperation become a big factor when determining your limits and endurance." The brunette stated matter of factly.

"_Well, I suppose but still, what if something goes wrong? How would you save Fuuta-kun then when you're incapacitated too?"_ Shoichi felt a stomach ache coming on.

"It'll be fine. Just trust me." Tsuna put a hand in his pocket and started to walk off the roof, heading for the door. Shoichi, hearing the brunette's signature words for getting him to give into the argument, couldn't resist finally giving in once again and decided that while they were at it, they should test out a prototype that was sent by Verde and the others as well.

"A new prototype that they want Cache to test?" Verde and the other scientists knew of the involvement of their juniors to the Phantom Thief heists though his identity was still unknown to them. They had asked the boys and Fon who the mysterious masked man was but none of them would give up a name. So they eventually became alright with working with a person that they didn't know since it would mean less trouble for them due to the fact that they're only loosely connected to the criminal and not directly involved. However, they do use him as a test subject, just like Spanner, for their prototype inventions as a means to get something out of their relation.

"_Now you're the one adding oil to the fire, Shoichi."_ Spanner teased.

"_Shut up, Spanner, you're the one who started it!"_ Tsuna sighed as he boarded the elevator. He was alone so he didn't really have to be mindful of what we was saying.

"Just leave it, it won't be much of a burden. Just explain its mechanics and functions while I'm heading over." The brunette broke up the argument on the other line.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"So... there's an animal... inside this little box?" Tsuna picked up a plain looking gray box looking at it skeptically. "I'm not much of a scientist but I'm sure that that's the creepiest thing I've ever heard. I'm not even sure I wanna open this thing." The brunette was really wary of this box since there had been a mishap with the last prototype that the eccentric scientists had sent before. By now, he had packed away the Kaitou Cache uniform, which he kept at Shoichi's house, in a backpack along with a few emergency gadgets and devices.

"No, like I said earlier, before we came here to meet you, Verde and the others were experimenting with wave lengths and gamma rays mixed with dying will flames. They aren't real animals but merely weapons, as you can put it, in animal form." Shoichi explained.

"They're opened by exposing the box to a flame matching the attribute, however, it was experimented that Sky flames are compatible with any box as Sky flames adapt and absorb everything around it." Spanner explained.

"Right so I just expose my flames to this box and out will pop an animal weapon thing?" Tsuna was still uncertain about this.

"That's what's supposed to happen." Shoichi just smiled.

"Yeah, well I'll use it when an emergency appears since I have enough on my plate as it is. I don't really need another experiment gone wrong on this mission." Tsuna sighed at the last time he was asked to test a prototype.

"Yes well, they just said to send the results whenever we can and to add our own observations as well." Shoichi said, implying his agreement with the brunette's decision.

"Oh, one last thing I have to hand back to you, Kaito." Spanner wheeled his chair over towards his desk and pulled out a small case. He then opened it and handed the box to the brunette.

"You fixed up the contacts again?" The phantom thief asked.

"Yes, they provide you with better night vision and I programed a few of our computer programs into them so we can send you information and you'll be able to see them right in front of your eyes. They won't impair your vision though. It'll just be like a small computer screen in the corner of your eye. This way, we can still send you messages without talking to you through your watch communicator." The blond explained as the brunette was putting the contacts in his eyes.

"That's great, but just don't send nonsense whenever you want." Tsuna joked.

"I'll make sure of that." Shoichi raised his hand.

"And no constant messages of worry. No 'are you alright?' 'is everything fine/okay/going well' etc..." Tsuna said to the redhead with a smirk.

"I'll make sure of that one." Spanner smirked at the redhead as well.

"Mou enough, you're running out of time aren't you? You should be heading out." Shoichi handed the phantom thief his extra black mask.

"Haha, kicking me out?" Tsuna took it with a smile.

"Just keep us posted on what's going on." Shoichi still frowned.

"Don't these contacts also provide visuals of what I'm seeing?" Tsuna looked towards Spanner.

"Yes but it's limited. If we wanted to, we can just hack the cameras or whatever is working in the area. I'll make something for audios next time, and I forgot to mention that you can send us messages back by saying 'New Message' and then the system will analyze your brainwaves, thus recording a message. 'End Message' or 'Trash Message' is for when you wanna stop or get rid of one. When you're done, 'Send' will suffice, the 'Message' part isn't needed." The blond explained.

"I think you're just as lengthy as Gokudera when I hear him trying to tutor Katsu." Tsuna sighed.

"You didn't understand?" Spanner looked like he was ready to explain again.

"No no, I got it." Tsuna put his hands up, stopping the blond. "Well, I'll get going. If something goes wrong, I'll tell you immediately." The brunette put the mask in the bag.

"We'll monitor your night flames and just use the box in case of emergency." Shoichi reminded.

"I got it." The thief responded like he was getting heckled by an overprotective mother. The boy then walked towards the bedroom door. "Oh yeah, there isn't any security cameras working in Kokuyoland, is there?" The brunette paused.

"They shouldn't be working and since they're delinquents, I don't think they would even bother to check them." Shoichi speculated.

"Guess that means I can sneak in through the front door." Tsuna walked out and was now headed towards his next target.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

Katsu had finally made it in the shopping district and looked around. "Where is that idiot?" The boy frowned as he heard a loud explosion and people started to scream and run in his direction. "What's he doing in a public place?" He grumbled to himself and ran towards the dark cloud of smoke. Once the boy made it around the corner, he caught sight of the silverette holding a few dynamite sticks in his hands while the guy opposite was holding yoyos and was slightly bloody.

"At least he got a hit on him." Katsu murmured to himself and called out to Gokudera. "Oi, Gokudera, what do you think you're doing in a public area? If you get in trouble, I get in trouble, got it? And I don't feel like explaining this to the police." He walked over.

"Juudaime! It's dangerous here!" Gokudera looked towards the other.

"I know, that's why I'm here. This is the culprit that's been making a mess out of students, right?" Katsu looked at the Kokuyo student. "What business do you have messing with our school?" Katsu spat at the boy opposite of them.

"I see, so you are the tenth head of Vongola. I'm glad I won't be going back empty handed." Chigusa got back into a fighting position and threw his yoyos toward the sky. Gokudera's eyes widened as he knew what was to come next.

"Juudaime!" Katsu turned his head as he saw Gokudera run at light speed and guarded him from the flying needles.

"G-Gokudera. Oi, Gokudera!" Katsu shook the boy's shoulders as he slowly slumped into his arms. The golden haired boy lowered him slowly and made sure that he was still breathing.

"Now that the nuisance it out of the way, how bout you and I go a few rounds?" Chigusa walked towards the two menacingly through the dust clouds. Katsu just narrowed his eyes but wasn't sure of what to do. He knew nothing about his opponent and he couldn't fight while Gokudera was incapacitated. That left him with a huge disadvantage and he couldn't go into dying will mode without Reborn either. At that moment, he cursed Reborn for going to make a call now of all times.

**Alright so I have a quick question for you guys  
****Do you guys have any certain inventions that you wanna see?**

**Made by Spanner, Shoichi, the scientists, other mafia geniuses or maybe even something that would already exist  
****It can be anything really… like something to help missions, battle weapons, spy gear, normal everyday use inventions etc…  
****I'm sorta being lazy right now XDD  
****But even if it's just an idea, I'll probably flesh it out, explain and incorporate it**

**Though you don't have to feel obliged to do this  
****I just thought it might be a fun way to get you guys involved and stuff ^^  
****Oh and if you have a certain character (in canon ;P) or story plot points that you want to be seen just tell me and I'll see what I can do about it  
****Maybe we can talk about it XP**

Small Omake (for fun):

"So this is a prototype that Verde sent you guys?" Tsuna asked Shoichi as Spanner handed him a metal brace that was used to command a small black robot that looked like a rabbit with wheels and just for show, was wearing a bowtie.

"Yeah, it's supposed to be able to help out with chores, do odd jobs or be a companion. They wanted to see how it would work under your working conditions and since you were going on a mission anyways for a small item, it might be a good time to try it out." Spanner said.

"It's not going to be a hindrance or anything, will it?" Tsuna was skeptical about the roborabbit. "How well can it move?"

"That's what we're testing it for." Shoichi smiled sheepishly.

"And you're alright with this?" The brunette turned towards the bespectacled redhead.

"Well, it needs to be done and the only way to get this over with is to test it out. But just in case, I set in a few safety devices in the brace. Just shout it to the brace and the robot will respond."

. . . . . . . . . . . . . .

On the mission... (in the mansion of a rich person)

The roborabbit was doing fine, it was moving at the same pace as Tsuna was. It fit through the air ducts and tiny doorways since it was only two feet tall and was swift. It responded fine and followed through on commands perfectly. The rabbit had even been able to detect security guards and a few policemen that had been sent to protect the object.

"Maybe you aren't so bad after all." Tsuna patted the rabbit.

"Thank you." It responded in a high robotic voice. But that was until Tsuna had reached a room where the item he was looking for, a handcrafted crystal mirror, which was positioned on a table with a vase of flowers beside it. When Tsuna made to reach the crystal mirror, an alarm had sudden been set off and there were footsteps approaching. This had startled roborabbit and it had hit the table knocking over the vase, spilling the water.

Only a few droplets of water had spilled on the robot's head but regardless, it had sparked and its eyes went red. "Halt who's in here?!" The policemen barged in but were confronted with a rabid roborabbit.

"Enemy detected!" The rabbit then revealed some missles and guns that it'd been hiding in its body.

"What in the world were Verde and them thinking, making this a companion and making it only do housechores?!" Tsuna yelled to himself. "Why would you put weapons in a companion robot?!"

The robot had chased him and the police until they realized that Cache was right next to them, they then changed objectives from protecting themselves to capturing the thief while protecting themselves. "Turn yourself in, Cache!" They yelled after him.

"_Why is this happening?!" _Tsuna screamed in his mind, then remembered the safeties that Shoichi had installed. He clicked a button on the brace as he ran through the halls of the mansion, the place was like a maze, and a holographic menu popped open. He scrolled through it and found a command, but didn't yell it out just yet as roborabbit blasted its missiles.

The thief, police and robot ran past a bedroom door that had just opened revealing the owner, looking sleepy and was wearing his nightgown. He wondered what was all the ruckus at that hour, but that was before noticing the damage. "My mansion!" He exclaimed in shock.

Tsuna had had enough of this madness and he couldn't duck away from the police as roborabbit was firing haphazardly. One wrong turn and he'd be turned into ashes. "That's it! RoboRabbit, SELF DESTRUCT!" Tsuna yelled into the brace, then after a few beeps.

"...understood." The rabbit responded and blew up, taking out a whole section of the mansion down. Tsuna then escaped with the mirror at hand and called out to the inspector who was stunned at the destruction.

"I leave the rest in your capable hands, Nakajima Keibu!" Kaitou Cache waved in the moonlight as he flew through the air using his sky flames to distance himself from the area.

"Whaa... how does he expect us to pay for this?!" The inspector exclaimed towards the night sky. "He's the one who steals all the valuable items! He must be loaded!"

"But he returns the items back to owners, doesn't he Keibu?" One of the cops corrected the man.

"Shut up! We still can't pay for this!"

"My mansion~" the owner wailed in despair.

. . . . . . . . . . . . . . .

"Shoichi, we're never using robots ever again. And from now on, make all gadgets water proof!" Tsuna exclaimed through his phone as he rested in branches of a tree. Shoichi and Spanner understood completely and sort of chuckled to themselves as they watched the late night news.

**Sorry if this all seems a bit rushed and please forgive any mistakes that may be present  
****Alright, I've think I've dragged this on long enough  
****But just a reminder of the question: what gadgets/inventions would you like to be seen?  
****Alright, thanks for reading  
****Owari desu~**

updated: 28/05/2013


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